Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War
by Destonus
Summary: With the events of Hell Back on Earth behind them, hopefully now our heroes can relax after dealing with demonic archenemies, vengeful sentai people, and dragons. But things go south again when Kinjiro picks up a strange transmission in orbit! Now what?
1. Disappearance

Ronin Warriors Side Story: Illusionary War.  
Chapter 1: Dissapearance.

Naru Yashuhara was running through what seemed like a cross between a modern cityscape and ancient Persia, clad in the outfit of a kunoichi, complete with flowing scarf, racing along walls at breakneck speed as energy bolts, arrows, and everything else that could be classified as a projectile came flying towards her, barely missing. She spotted the strange orbish form firing energy bolts at her, and pausing for only a second, let fly with one of her kunai, destroying it on impact. She began to scurry down the wall again, sending a wide arc of kunai into the numerous archers taking aim at her, as she kicked off from the wall, shimmered through the air, taking down another orb thing and then neatly dashing back to the ground below, landing perfectly. Standing before the girl was a cloaked figure carrying a scimitar, and wearing a cross between a nightsuit and Persian clothing. He also had a weird looking dagger in the other hand. Naru went for the ninja-to on her back, and flew forward, a loud clang broke the silence as the two weapons clashed, as Naru backflipped away and dashed sideways, leaving an afterimage which her opponent sliced through, as Naru spun around and struck with her sword, only to have it parried by the scimitar wielder. Naru leapt up, and let the fistful of kunai between her fingers fly, causing small explosions around her assailant, as she rolled over in the air and came crashing down with her sword, knocking the warrior off his footing and pinning him to the ground with her legs on either side of his torso, as she ripped his turban off to reveal Yuuji.

Whoa Naru, you got me that time! he exclaimed.  
Yeah. Never mess with the Queen of Games. Try all you like, but Ill eventually beat ya.

The two looked at each other intently, as they closed their eyes and brought their lips together.

Naru Yuuji said.  
Yuuji Naru replied dreamily.

Then, Yuuji spoke again. But it was not his voice. This time it was Ayakos. Something was seriously wrong, Naru thought to herself. Ayako seemed to be calling out to her. But why? How did she get there? Ayako spoke again, this time she seemed to be telling her to wake up. Her voice was not coming from Yuuji now, it seemed to be coming from the air. The sky seemed to open up in two slits, only inches apart, revealing grass, trees, people, in what seemed to be a park. But the view seemed to be askew, as all Naru could see through the slowly opening slits were as if she was looking up at them, and the scene was blurry as well. She was further shocked when she noticed Ayakos now giant head looking at her through these slits, as she felt her ninja suit disappear as Ayako continued to call out to her.

Naru! Wake up!

An instant later, Naru could feel the hard ground beneath her, cushioned by the beach towel she was laying on, the headphones on her ears, playing video game remixes, her glasses perched on top of her head (which would explain the blurryness), and the warm sun on her naked back. It had all been a very elaborate dream. Naru moaned a little as she quickly remembered to tie her bikini straps back together and rolled onto her side to find Ayako reading a manga.

Whats up? Naru asked sleepily.  
Not much, you fell asleep and I just woke you up so your back wouldnt get too burned. Ayako explained.  
I fell asleep? Howd you know?  
You were snoring a little. Ayako replied matter of factly.  
I do NOT snore. Naru shot back without any hesitation. And for your information, I put so much sunscreen on my back its a miracle I can even feel the sun on it. So whats the real reason you woke me up?  
Oh, not much, some cute guys were checking us out. Ayako replied. They were sort of turned off by your snoring.  
Once again, I do not snore, and you just added that on to irritate me. Naru answered.  
Oh fine, you dont snore. Ill just ask Yuuji when he gets here.

Naru perked up.

Yuujis coming? How do you know? Naru asked.  
He called you while you were sleeping.  
Yuuji doesnt have your cell phone number.  
Well you were asleepI didnt want to wake you so I just took a message. I had a good idea beforehand that it was him calling, who else would you have the theme from FF8 programmed as a ringtone for on your cell phone.

Naru was going to fire back some retort about her cellphone calls being none of Ayakos business when Yuuji showed up.

Yuuji! Naru exclaimed, jumping up and hugging him.  
Hey. So what are you girls up to today?  
Nothin much, chillin out, getting some sun, you?  
Not much, the guys were busy so I figured Id hang out with my girl, unless its a no guy affair.  
No, its perfectly alright. On the plus side itll get the male attention off of me and onto Ayako. And you can tell her that I dont snore.  
But you do snore. But only when youre really really tired. Yuuji answered, despite the fact that was not the answer she wanted to hear.  
See? Told ya. Ayako said matter-of-factly. Im just teasing you.  
Besides, some of my best memories are of you asleep on top of me. Yuuji answered, causing Naru to blush a little.  
So, what happened last night that shes so exhausted.  
Late night gaming session. Yuuji was trying for hours to beat me at Shinobi and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.  
She means SHE was trying for hours to beat me. Yuuji clarified.  
Ill beat you eventually dearie. Thats what I like about you, you dont feel bad about being beaten by a girl. Naru playfully warned him.  
Yeah, but at least its you. Yuuji replied.  
Well, now that thats settled, would you be a dear and rub some lotion on my chest? If I cant beat you here I can at least try to beat you in my dreams. Naru replied, seeing that Ayako had probably had enough of the mushy stuff and would be asking the two to get a room soon.

Naru laid down on her back and undid her shoulder straps as Yuuji took to lathering her up, causing her to giggle a little as his fingers tickled her. She took off her glasses and set them aside as she pulled her bucket hat over her face and let her arms drop to her sides.

So, Yuuji, Ayako said with a devilish smirk, as if she had been waiting for this opportunity all day, what else can you tell me about Naru?  
Dont even think about it Yuuji. Naru warned, her voice muffled by her hat.  
Damn. Ayako said.

Elsewhere in Toyama, the scene was not so peaceful, as renegade Draconai fled on foot down the street, causing cars to collide and careen out of control from the shock of seeing the creatures. Behind the beasts, a man in a trenchcoat wearing light body armor underneath raced along the top of the cars like stepping stones, wielding a pair of pistols and attempting to get a bead on the Draconai as they fled.

*Master, Ive flushed them out. Theyre headed your way. The individual said.  
Good job. Just dont get carried away. The other end said.  
I wont Master.

The trenchcoated individual, Toshihiko Kakekomi, continued to pursue the scaled beasts down one street and onto another on foot. His years of work as an enforcer for the renowned Yakuza clan member, Tenma Furukiayu, had gotten him accustomed to chasing down people that one way or another needed to be silenced, but nothing had prepared him for this. Since the end of the war against the evil Lord Drakka, he had been apprenticed to the former Drakka Seishi Kazuhiko Yagyu, who before the war hunted down the Draconai and exterminated them, but now, he did it for Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, as a means to atone in his eyes. With the draconian humanoids leader, Ceiphied long gone, the whole great brood had splintered off, some siding with Ceiphieds generals, others like these, breaking away from the whole. He managed to take aim enough and fired on the beasts, only to have them ping off, to his surprise; Kinjiro Osaki, the technical genius of Amaterasus side, had been laboring for the past few months to develop bullets that would seriously hamper the Draconai, and they were not working! He went for his large rune sword in hopes that it would do better, managing to fire off a flame blast that only seemed to singe them. In an effort to see if he was messing with the wrong clan, he fired a lightning blast, this one seemed to have an effect, but not one he was expecting. Smoke began to emit from the Draconai as sparks danced along their bodies, as they began to go critical. Toshihiko dove behind a parked car as the Draconai blew up. Toshihiko peeked up from behind his cover to find flames on the ground and miscellaneous parts elsewhere.

Something is wrong, Master. Toshihiko said as Kazuhiko walked on the scene. Clad in a ninja nightsuit with samurai armor over it, wearing a traditional straw hat, Kazuhiko looked quite strange. With him were his faithful companions, Arataka, the falcon, and Saitou, the wolf.  
Yes. These were not Draconai, but incredible facsimiles of them. Someone is trying to lead us to believe these creatures ARE Draconai, when they are not.  
But if Otoantou is locked up in jail right now, then who could have constructed them?  
Which is why we should go see Mr. Osaki about this. If I am right, he probably already knows. Kazuhiko replied.

Up in the Palace of the Heavens, it was business as usual. Or, with Drakka long gone and with mostly hope that he would stay that way, relaxation was the watchword around the place. Navcase, the Sword of Heaven, had a new battle to confront; his beloved Yuriko, ready to kill him from her pregnancy, now using his god-like speed to fetch Yuriko anything and EVERYTHING she needed. Yuri and Ran, the oldest and youngest of Amaterasus daughters respectively, had stepped in to help the poor guy deal with the situation, since the last thing they needed was a pregnant woman charging through the palace with a six-foot spear. Suiren, their blonde bombshell of a sister and a flirt to boot, had headed off to the beach with Ayakos cousin Yoko, and Yokos friend Megumi, who to Ayakos own dismay, was dating her dimwit (at least in her opinion) twin brother Shougo.

Normally, Sakura, the more active and outdoorsy of the two twins in the family, would be off in a courtyard, practicing her sword technique in preparation for the next big enemy to go after them. But today, she was relaxing on an air mattress, listening to her sisters Mp3 player, with nary a care in the world. It had taken her a while to realize that all work and no play made Sakura a dull girl, but at least she had finally taken the hint. Of course, she was most likely cutting up anonymous henchmen or indispensable minions by the truckload in her head, but at least part of her was at peace. Unfortunately her peace and quiet was about to be stripped away.

What. Sakura said grumpily.  
Um, Sakura, Mom wants you. Ran asked.  
Fine. Sakura answered, getting up from the floating bed and landing poolside without getting wet at all, pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before heading off to Amaterasus throne room.  
Whats up Mom? Sakura asked.  
Ive sensed some sort of spatial disturbance in the space-time continuum. Amaterasu explained to her daughter.  
Not to be rude Mom, but why are you telling me this when you should be asking Ayame to look into it?  
Because something came through it. And I can sense that it is hostile.  
Good, lounging around the pool, as relaxing as it is, was getting boring. Finally something to fight for a change.  
I want you to take Navcase with you. Just in case. Amaterasu said.

Sakura was about to question her moms decision to bring along the Sword of Heaven, but it was the Amaterasu Seishis job to protect her along with her sisters and mother.

Okay. Ill go find Ayame and let her know too. I might need Kanesadas help too.  
Good luck. Amaterasu said.

Sakura quickly headed off and followed the sound of demands to Yurikos room, and informed Navcase of the situation, who apologized to Yuriko for having to leave and then headed off, after getting a list of foods and other things that Yuriko had suddenly developed a craving for. They then made their way to the workshop, since Sakura was almost one hundred percent sure that her twin sister Ayame would be there.

How much longer?  
Not too long.  
Cmon, how much longer? I cant wait to try out these new pulse lasers!  
Neither can I. Finding one way to keep you from expending all of your ammo puts me in a good mood. Ayame said.  
Look out world! Himeihoshis got a new pair of weapons! Booya!

Ayame, Sakuras twin sister, looked exactly like Sakura; same long black hair, except Ayames was wavier, but they had the same purple eyes. The two were almost the same height, Ayame was one inch taller than her sister. However, similarities were only skin deep; Sakura was serious about fighting; on the other hand, all Ayame was serious about was getting her beauty sleep, and lying out by the pool. Sakura collected various swords and could match them to a date and a swordsmith in no time flat; Ayame collected scores of mp3s and managed to keep track of them all. Sakura, when she had the time, enjoyed communing with nature; Ayames idea of communing with nature involved her taking a nap under a tree, blocking out all other sounds with her music. The two were like oil and water; normally, the two cannot exist together, but with a little emulsification, they were fine.

A good example of their emulsification despite being oil and water, was that Ayame had an extreme knack for slapping mechanical monstrosities together, which Sakura utilized in battle. Kinjiros involvement aside, it had been Ayame who had constructed upgrades for their armor, put together a quintet of mechanical companions for each of her sisters, including herself, along with a huge tricked-out armed to the teeth transport to haul it all in. It would be safe to say that if she were to ever hook up with Mercia, there would be no telling what would come off the assembly line.

Today, Ayame was working on Himeihoshi, the scaled down Metal Siren Valkyrie she had built for her own use. Hours ago she had finished rewiring the hardpoints on his wings so that he could fire his gun pods without draining the energy clips while they were attached. She was just finishing up work on the pulse lasers that replaced his autocannons, which gave him a default weapon to use that did not suck his ammo dry, which Himeihoshi had a habit of doing. She worked meticulously, blowing several softball-sized bubbles with her gum, as she finished the last of the wiring and routing it into his combat computer.

There. All done. Ayame sighed, relieved that she was finished, but more so that Himeihoshi would leave her alone for a while.

Ayame. Sakura called from the door.  
Yeah? She called back, turning to face her sister. She was dressed in a sky blue T-shirt and coveralls and had a backward baseball cap on embroidered with Kinjiros company logo.  
Mom sensed some sort of spatial disturbance. She wants you to check it out.

Ayame nearly swallowed her gum.

WHAT? DAMMIT!!!! Things had begun to get so quiet after that whole Drakka problem, cant we have any PEACE before something ELSE comes to threaten our existence? Jesus H. Christ, why cant all the evil forces in the universe just take a vacation for the next ten thousand years and leave us all alone? Ayame cursed and complained as she stomped over to her laptop and began working furiously.

Oh dear, shes turning into I.J. Himeihoshi moaned.  
Dont worry, she hasnt reached his level of irritability yet. Sakura reminded him, making reference to the tank-bot that Ayame had given to Yuri and mistakenly programmed using Full Metal Jacket and Starcraft Siege Tanks as reference material.  
I thought things couldnt be any worse. There isnt just ONE portal, theres FIVE!, and Im detecting the existence of even moreTHIS IS NOT WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! Ayame complained.  
Ayame, calm down. Lets look at the big picture. Only five of them are anywhere near Japan. Theyre the only ones that are currently active. Ill take Navcase and Kanesada and go check out the first one that opened, another ones near Suiren and Yoko. Theres more than enough of us to handle this problem, and get in touch with Kinjiro, because Im sure hes also trying to figure out whats going on.  
Okay. Ayame said, taking a deep breath and calming down.  
Good. Im off. Come on Navcase.  
Are you sure this is safe Lady Sakura? Navcase asked.  
Relax, done this dozen of times. Sakura answered, as her hardsuit unfolded around her. "Ready for Launch Ayame.  
Got it. Ayame said, pushing a button and sending Sakura flying down a catapult into a waiting glowing portal, which closed behind them.

Sakura emerged from the other end somewhere in Toyama, and sped towards the source of the signal with Navcase holding on for dear life. If her sensors were correct, the gateway had opened somewhere in Toyama Park. She happened to recall Ayako saying something about going there with Naru that day.

Kanesada, put the pedal to the metal! Sakura replied.  
At once Mistress! Kanesada answered.

Navcase held on for dearer life as Kanesada accelerated faster, coming to the conclusion that MAYBE he was safer waiting on Yuriko hand and foot than hanging on for dear life and watching his life flash before his eyes.

At the park, a green sphere surrounded by an orange sphere had appeared in the park, getting everyones attention immediately. People began to flee the scene as a figure began to step through. At first, it seemed to be some sort of centaur, but it was soon revealed to be a large strangely dressed man atop a reddish horse.

Um, Yuuji, do you know what or who that thing is? Ayako asked.  
I know Ive seen him before, but cant remember where. Um, Naru? Yuuji asked the tomboy.  
What Naru replied grumpily, not wanting to get up, and continued to lie down.  
Um, not much, theres some guy on a red horse standing in the park right now and Ayakos wondering who he is. Hes very huge, I can tell you that much.  
That narrows it down. Is he holding any weapons? Naru asked.  
Um yeah, a really big spear. Ayako replied.  
He seems to be looking like he came out of medieval China.  
Big guy with big spear from medieval Chinadoes he have a weird looking headdress that makes him look like a cockroach?  
Yep Yuuji replied cautiously, as he seemed to remember just who the strange intruder was.  
Yuuji, youre clearly hallucinating because there is no way Lu Bu from Dynasty Warriors Naru said, as she pulled the hat off her face and started to sit up, couldbeintheparkrightnow? Naru replied hesitantly as a chill went up her spine. She then grabbed poor Yuuji by his shirt and shook him violently  
YOU COULDA SPOKEN UP AND TOLD ME THAT THE TERROR OF HU LAO GATE WAS LOOSE IN THE PARK!!!!!!!! Naru shouted loudly.  
Okay, so how do we stop this guy? Ayako asked.  
We dont. WE RUN!!!!! Naru said, quickly grabbing their stuff and fleeing the scene.

Lu Bu had been told to cease and desist in the meantime by a bunch of security guards, but he knocked them all away with one swipe of his halberd.

You dare challenge the mighty Lu Bu? he bellowed. He then, unfortunately, spotted Naru and the others running away.  
YOU DARE RUN FROM ME? He shouted, charging after them.  
Um, Naru, hes gaining on us. Yuuji replied.  
Not for long. She said, picking up some sticks and throwing them back at their pursuer, causing a small explosion that forced Red Hare to buckle backwards. As Lu Bu attempted to gain control of the animal, Naru and Ayako managed to get Yuuji to safety.

Okay, no one ruins my day of relaxation and gets away with it. Naru declared, throwing more charged sticks at the monster.

How dare you attack me child! Lu Bu shouted, using his halberd to swat Naru to the side.  
Okay, thats it pal. Temia, you ready? Ayako asked.  
Im ready. Temia replied.  
Then lets do this! Ayako replied, as the ring on her finger began to glow with energy. In moments, energy had surged out from it and out into spikes that covered most of her body, as she grew taller and grew stronger as well.  
Lu Bu! I order you to cease with your attack immediately! Temia shouted.  
You are a fool to cross me spiky one! He bellowed, jumping off his horse. Temia removed one of her spikes and turned it into a polearm, as the two began to go at it. Strengthwise, they were almost equally matched, but Lu Bu managed to get in a few good hits, driving her backwards and up onto his spear before tossing Temia across the way, who then flew back towards him. However, a spiral of energy had erupted around the large warrior.

Temia, watch out! Naru shouted, recognizing it as a Musou attack.

Lu Bu slashed again and again with even greater force, finally sending Temia flying and knocking her out of phase, and back into the ring, leaving Ayako weakened.

Who else seeks death? Lu Bu declared.

As if in answer, the revving of a motorcycle was heard as Sakura charged onto the scene with Navcase. She charged her blaster to maximum power and let the lummox have it, sending him flying into a tree, snapping under his weight. She screeched to a stop as Navcase jumped off and headed over to protect the girls, as Sakura retrieved her blades from the sheaths and flipped the blades downward, striking him six times as Lu Bu got up. She then returned the blades to normal and slashed several times, using her thrusters to spin over several times in the air, before knocking Lu Bu back and landing with her blades facing outward. Navcase came tearing across the ground, knocking Lu Bu back with Ryu Son Sen in an attempt to wear the giant down. Her shoulder guards opened up and she let fly with a salvo of concussion missiles, which knocked Lu Bu back again. Sakura began charging up her gauntlets, first blue, then yellow, into pink, then orange, and finally green, firing at the warrior, alternating with each arm before slashing downward with her swords, sending an energy bolt into him which knocked him back towards the portal.

We must send him back to where he came from! Navcase said, racing along the ground with almost godlike speed, then going into Zero Stance and poolcueing the warrior back through the gateway which closed behind him.

Everyone all right? Sakura asked.  
Yeah. Naru and Ayako replied.  
Naru! Youre okay! Yuuji replied, running towards her.  
Yuuji! Naru shouted, running up to him and giving him a huge hug which then turned into a big kissing session.  
Jeez you two, get a room. Ayako said in small disapproval.  
Sorry. The two replied, blushing a little.

*Sakura! Came Ayames voice over her helmet.  
*Whats up Ayame.  
*Theres more portals opening up. Suiren and Yoko said they just beat up what looked like an evil Link!  
Did you say Link? Sakura replied.  
Yes, elf ears, green tunic, sword and shield? You bet.  
*Do you have any clue whats going on? Sakura asked.  
Still working on it. The guys, the Warlords, even the Forgotten Souls are working overtime trying to shut these things down. Ive been trying to get through to Kinjiro but I keep getting some kind of interference. Ayame replied.  
Ill see what I can do about kicking some more of these guys back to where they came from. Navcase, weve got more work to do. Sakura replied.

Navcase leapt onto Kanesada again as Sakura sped off again. People started to venture back into the park now that the threat was clear.

Okay, Im loosing my mind again. Im going back to sleep. Maybe when I wake up this time all the craziness will be over with. Naru said, setting down her towel again and rolling onto her stomach, closing her eyes.  
Me, Im just tired. Yuuji, could you watch our stuff for us? Ayako asked, as she lay down as well.  
I guess so.  
Thanks Yuuji. Naru said.

While the others relaxed, Sakura and Navcase went on a race across the city, as things just got weirder and weirder. Anime and video game characters were just coming out the woodwork, even though they were really all coming out of the strange green and orange portals. Something was very wrong, and there was no one who could have pulled this off that they knew of.

Screw interference. Navcase, were going to see Kinjiro. Im sure HEs got some explanation.

Sakura took a turn and tore off for Osaki Defensive Industries headquarters.

It did not take long to reach the location on Kanesada. The guards at the gate quickly buzzed her in after getting permission from Kinjiro as she pulled into the parking lot, just as Ayame touched down in it in Himeihoshi. The cockpit lowered as he landed in Gerwalk mode.

Sakura! What are you doing here? Ayame asked.  
I figured Kinjiro would know whats getting on, and since you couldnt get through, I figured wed pay him a visit.  
I had the same idea. Oh, Navcase, Yuriko needs you. Yuri and Ran cant take much more of this.  
Very well. Navcase answered.

A portal opened and he stepped through as it closed behind him. Ayame turned to Sakura as she dismissed her armor.

Shall we? Ayame asked as the two girls headed inside. They proceed down hallway after hallway until they found Kinjiro in some sort of NORADish station with supercomputers on overdrive trying to figure out what was going on.

Kinjiro! Ayame called out.  
Good, youre here finally. I tried to get in touch with you but I couldnt.  
Same here. I hope youve got a better understanding about whats going on because I sure dont.  
Most of the satellites around Earth have gone haywire. As far as I can tell, the only satellites that are still working fine are the ones that used to belong to Otoantou Industries.  
Houji? But I thought hes locked up! Sakura questioned.  
Was. When I noticed his satellites were working fine I made a call over to the prison, warden said the guards went to bring him some food and he wasnt in there, and there was no way he could have gotten out. Almost as if he vanished.  
Or jumped through a portal. Sakura said, starting to put some things together.  
Of course! Ayame exclaimed. Whomevers been opening all these portals all over the place might have also helped Houji escape.  
But who could have done it? Houji was the Drakka Seishis brain trust. Only he would have the technical expertise to cause all this trouble. Sakura observed.  
Theres something else I discovered. I received this message from one of Houjis satellites that I added to my network just in case.  
Old adage, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Sakura added.  
Anyhow, I found this amongst all the other craziness.

Kinjiro played back the transmission he had detected from Houjis satellite network.

Gates in place and ready to open. Awaiting signal from Lord Drakka.

The two girls gasped in shock.

DRAKKA? HOW COULD DRAKKA BE INVOLVED? Ayame shouted in disbelief. We sent that demonic bastard into early retirement in Hell, AGAIN! Theres no way he could get out!  
Very true. A voice said.

Out of the shadows stepped Kazuhiko and Toshihiko, carrying the remains of the Draconai they had found and dispatched.

However, although he cannot free himself from Hell, others can. Kazuhiko answered.  
Whoa Mr. Drakka Seishi, you were part of the backup plan, and its over. Besides, most of the others are gone or went into retirement, and theres no alternate ways to summon Drakka in case of missing or departed Seishi. Ayame reminded him.  
That isnt to say that somebody else could have helped him get out. Sakura reminded her.  
Miss Sakura is right, Miss Ayame. There are a myriad of ways to bring a demon out of limbo; the Seishi ritual is just one of many. But that ritual, as you said, is only associated with Drakka. Kazuhiko replied. Which is why this machine we found puzzles me. Whoever is doing this, is attempting to make it look as if Drakka is involved in some way. However, any one of us knows that Drakka hates the Draconai for betraying him and will not rest until every last one is dead.  
This just gets weirder and weirder. First Kinjiro gets a message about Drakka, then all these portals open with fictional people jumping through, Kazuhiko brings in a technological construct of whats supposed to be a Draconai, when all of us know they're not his minions anymore. Ayame said, throwing up her hands in frustration.  
I agree. Thats why weve got to go take a look at those satellites and see whats going on. Ever since I picked up on that transmission this morning, Ive been prepping the Phantom Express for launch. Lt. Enzeru and her team volunteered to come help, because theyre the only ones with any sort of extravehicular equipment.  
There is no telling what is up there. With all due respect to the Lieutenant and her forces, we are more experienced in dealing with Drakka than she is. We should go with them. Kazuhiko answered.  
I thought youd say that. We can use the Sun Empress to follow them up there. The Phantom Express wasnt really built for fighting, but its got more than enough cargo room. However, Ive been meaning to test the Sun Empress transatmospheric capability.  
Good. Then we will go in that. Kazuhiko answered.  
Not alone youre not. Kanesada and I are going too. Weve got the firepower. Sakura answered.  
I was not doubting your abilities Miss Sakura. Besides, it is your ship.  
Our ship. Im definitely going too. Kinjiroll need all the help he can get. Besides, Im the only one who knows how to fly the thing. Ayame answered.  
Ayame, almost all of those weirdoes that showed up came from video games or anime. I know my stuff as much as the next fangirl, but our knowledge isnt as encyclopedic as some people. Sakura said.  
Sakura, I dont think therell be any bishounen where were going. The last thing we need is Suiren asking for autographs. Ayame answered.  
I wasnt talking about Suiren. I was talking about two people we know who know more about anime and video games respectively, to the point where they could act as guides, should one of those portals go to some parallel world.  
Miss Sakura, if I am right about your wishes, I highly advise against it. There is no place for them on a dangerous mission like this. Kazuhiko advised.  
So? You were the one who taught ninja throwing arts to one of them. Sakura reminded him.  
Very well. I suppose they could go. However, we must keep them safe at all times. Kazuhiko answered.  
Deal. Sakura said. Kinjiro, could I borrow your phone?

Out in Toyama Park, Ayako and Naru snoozed away in the sun, unawares of what was about to take away their boredom.

Ayakos cell phone began to ring as Yuuji answered it. He then nudged Ayako gently to wake her up and explained the situation.

*Sakura? Whats up? You want us to what? AWESOME! Ayako exclaimed, waking up Naru.  
Whats awesome? Naru asked.  
Well, Kinjiros going up into space, and they want us to come along! Ayako explained.

Narus eyes lit up. THAT IS AWESOME!!!  
Theyre going to send a car over to pick us up. Isnt this cool? Were going into space! Ayako exclaimed.

The two girls began to jump up and down in excitement before calming down to realize Yuuji was not as excited as they were.

Relax Yuuji. It wont be long. Well be back before dinner, Im sure. Ayako replied.  
Yeah, dont worry about us. Ayakos friends are going to be with us the whole time. Naru said.

Just then the car pulled up.

That must be us. Dont worry Yuuji, well see you soon. Naru said. Bye honey.

The two embraced and locked their lips again for what must have been the second time that day, as Ayako waited impatiently, ready to call for the Jaws of Life to tear them apart. Eventually Naru was through with her goodbye kiss and the two headed off.

In about a half-hour, the two girls pulled up at Osaki, and were taken down several floors to where Kinjiro and the others were waiting.

What took you so long? Sakura asked.  
We had to get a few things. Ayako replied.  
Were only going to be gone a few hours. Sakura answered.  
Well, were not going up to space in our bathing suits. Naru answered who had pulled on a tank top and cargo pants. Besides, I came prepared anyhow. Naru said, holding up her shoulder bag.  
Okay, well, were almost ready. Sakura answered. Theyre finishing off the pre-flight checks on the ship and attaching Himeihoshi to the roof.

Sakura led the two girls over to the launch area, where the Valkyrie was being lowered by crane to the top of the Sun Empress. Sakura had already loaded Kanesada inside along with a portable version of her CAS system; Just in case.

Bolts came up to lock Himeihoshi onto the roof, as Kinjiro came over.

Glad you could make it. Im Kinjiro Osaki. He said, introducing himself to Naru.  
Nice to meet you. Is there any reason this thing looks like a Mod Starbridge from Escape Velocity Nova? Naru asked.  
I wanted it to be stylish? Kinjiro answered, looking for an answer to a question he was unsure of the answer on.  
Good enough. Naru said. So lets get this show on the road!  
Hang on. Im sure youre all eager to take off, but Im waiting for the green light.  
Sun Empress and Phantom Express are ready for launch sir. A technician answered.  
Looks like were ready for liftoff. Kinjiro said.

He led the girls towards the gangplank on the Sun Empress, which the girls quickly hurried up and followed Kinjiro towards the bow into the cockpit, where Ayame was already strapped in.

Shotgun! Naru called, but Kinjiro pulled ahead of her and sat down next to Ayame.  
Aw man! Naru said disappointedly.  
Im sorry Naru, but I called it hours ago.  
No fair! Naru shot back.  
Weve never done this before, and if anything goes wrong, I need to be up front to fix it. If everythings okay, then once were in orbit, Ill let you get up front, all right? Kinjiro answered.  
Deal. Naru replied, as she took a seat next to Ayako. Sakura took a seat behind Kinjiro, as the final two passengers, er, four passengers, came into the cockpit as well. Naru was surprised when Kazuhiko came inside and sat down behind her, and Toshihiko sat down behind Ayako. Saitou sat up on the seat between the two as Arataka perched himself on top of the seat as Saitou was strapped in.  
Everybody ready? Ayame asked as she turned back to the rest of the passengers.  
All set. Sakura answered.  
Ready as Ill ever be. Toshihiko answered nervously.  
Oh relax, itll be fine. Ayame answered with a smile.  
Famous last words. Toshihiko replied.  
I stand ready. Kazuhiko answered.  
Cant wait! Ayako answered.  
Lets light this candle! Naru shouted enthusiastically.  
Himeihoshi?  
Wraith awaiting launch orders. He said in a Wraith pilot voice. Er, ready. All systems go.  
All right. Here we go. Ayame said.

The Sun Empress landing pontoons were retracted into the body of the aircraft as it was held up by clips, which were pushed up ninety degrees by a hydraulic piston. The skyward pointing aircraft was then moved over across the floor to a catapult track, as a pair of bay doors opened above it. The Phantom Express, equipped with a pair of rocket boosters, was already in an upright position, as its doors opened up. Klaxons began to sound in the launch bay as personnel were instructed to evacuate the immediate area and get to safety.

This is Lt. Miharu Enzeru of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Forces Special Mecha Division. We are go for launch. Takeoff in ten, nine, eight, seven, sixengaging engines five, four, three, two, one

The boosters roared to life and smoke billowed out into the launch bay as special fans took to sucking it up as the ship lifted off from its launch pad and out past the tower, heading skyward.

*Phantom Express, you have cleared the tower. Looking good.  
*Acknowledged. Proceeding to rendezvous point.  
*Sun Empress, you are clear for launch.  
*Copy that. Ayame said. Here we go.

Pushing the throttle forward, the ionic thrusters roared to life as the catapult shot them straight upward and let go above ground as the ship climbed with almost no effort at all.

AWESOME! I LOVE THIS THING!!!!! Ayame shouted as the ship continued to climb.  
Were all gonna die! Toshihiko shouted.  
In the pipe, five by five. Hang on, were in for some chop. Ayame answered as the ship shook violently and rocketed skyward.  
Oh thank you for sharing Corporal Ferro. Toshihiko answered.

The sky turned from blue to dark blue to black and starry within a matter of minutes as the Sun Empress passed through the atmosphere and entered space.

Ionic Drives working fine. Were doing great Ayame. Kinjiro reported.  
Good. Now lets go find that satellite. She replied, reducing the thrust and taking off towards the blip on their radar screen.

Minutes later the Sun Empress rendezvoused with the Phantom Express, which had taken position alongside the satellite and was about to send out someone to investigate.

This is Phantom Express. Preparing for E.V.A. Lt. Enzeru reported.

A hatch opened up on the other vessel, which resembled a Valkyrie from Escape Velocity Nova, as what looked like a large metal bird stepped out and started flying towards the satellite. A few other power armors also floated out and clamped themselves to the top and stub wings of the aircraft.

*Sergeant Major Okita reporting in. Ikusa in position.  
*Ulti-Max units in possession maam. Another soldier reported.  
*Okay Itazura, go see whats wrong with that satellite. Lt. Enzeru ordered.

The birdlike power armor began doing loops around the satellite, moonwalking, and all sorts of other crazy stunts, which amused the group inside the Sun Empress, but was beginning to get on the Lieutenants nerves.

NOW ITAZURA!!!! Lt. Enzeru shouted.  
Oh sure, spoil my fun. Itazura answered.

The Super Tengu power armor flew over and began to inspect the situation.

*Everything looks to be in order Mr. Osaki. Except for this thing here.  
*What thing? Kinjiro asked.  
*This thing right here! Itazura answered, pulling the object off the satellite and holding it up for the entire world to see. Uh oh

The strange object began to display a countdown on it, starting at 5 minutes and began to work its way down.

I think its gonna BLOW! Itazura exclaimed.  
*All units, get back inside on the double! Well have to try and check another satellite!

The timer ticked down thirty seconds as Itazura flew back inside and the other power armor pulled themselves in as well. Lt. Enzeru fired up the thrusters and began to pull away from the satellite.

Ayame, get me closer to that thing. I might be able to disarm it. Kinjiro answered.  
Are you NUTS? Ayame asked. Need I remind you that there are several people on this ship that are merely your guests? And I dont think you remembered to pack a EVA suit!

Sakura got up from her seat and headed towards the way out of the cockpit.

Tell me what to do. Ayame, get as close as you possibly can. Sakura answered.  
Good luck Miss Sakura. Kazuhiko answered.  
Nice knowing ya. Toshihiko answered. Kazuhiko elbowed him. I mean, go Sakura!

Ayame used the maneuvering verniers to pull the ship ever so close to the constantly ticking object, which had gone down about a minute and a half now. Sakura summoned her armor and stepped down the gangplank and thrusted over to the object. The counter read 3:30 and continued to drop slowly.

*Well, its some sort of bomb I think. Kinjiro observed.  
*Thank you Captain Obvious. Now how do we shut this thing off? Sakura asked.  
*Try opening the back cover if there is one. Kinjiro instructed.

Sakura flipped the thing over, and found nothing.

*Damn. Now what are we gonna do? I say we take the not so delicate approach. Sakura said, reaching for one of her beam sabers.  
*No no! Not that! There has to be another way! Kinjiro pleaded.  
*Youve got two minutes. Stop thinking and start talking, or Im gonna chuck this thing as far from us as possible. Sakura answered.

Another minute passed, and Kinjiro discerned nothing except for the fact the device was alien.

Okay smarty-pants, Im tossing this piece of junk before we all go kaboom. Sakura said, attaching it to her Grapple Beam, reaching back, and whipping it away as it floated through space. Sakura then used the beam to pull herself back inside and closed the hatch behind her, then headed up to the cockpit again.

Okay, lets take this thing out now. Sakura asked.

Ayame began to try and target the drifting object with the railguns as the counter on it reached thirty. She fired, sending the shots drifting by.

Twenty.

Ayame, whered you learn to shoot? You couldnt hit the broadside of a barn. Sakura teased.  
Correction, I can shoot better than Himeihoshi. At least it doesnt take me fifty shots to actually hit something. Ayame replied.  
*Hey! I resemble that remark! Himeihoshi protested through his commlink.

Fifteen. Another few missed shots.

Jeez Sakura, how hard did you throw this thing? Ayame asked as she tried to get a bead on it.

Ten.

Hard enough. Sakura replied.

Five. More missed shots.

Um, hate to barge in, but maybe we should try and get out of here? I really would like to live to see my next birthday. Naru asked.  
Shes right. Lets get out of here. Ayame said, prepping the engines to fire again.

Four. Three. Two. The counter reached one as the engines roared to life again.

Except the thing did not explode. Well, not in the way the group was expecting it to do. It exploded into some sort of portal, which immediately began sucking the Sun Empress towards it. Ayame gave the engines all she could, but they continued to go backwards.

AYAME, for the love of Mom push harder! Sakura shouted.  
I AM!!!! THE ENGINES ARE AT FULL POWER! Ayame said through almost gritted teeth as sweat began to bead from her forehead as she continued to try and push the engines farther, but to no avail.  
Ours are. But not Himeihoshis. Sakura mentioned.  
*Himeihoshi, PUNCH IT!!! Ayame shouted.

The Valkyrie Metal Siren fired up his engines as well, dishing out maximum thrust. Their rearward motion stopped for a moment, but continued to suck them in. The ship drew closer and closer, as Ayame and Himeihoshi tried harder and harder to pull away, but to no avail.

This isnt working! Ayame shouted in frustration.  
Were all gonna die! Toshihiko shouted.  
Have faith Toshihiko. We will find a way.  
Oh hell no. Abandon spacecraft! Guys in trenchcoats first! He attempted to run, but Ayako, Naru, and Kazuhiko grabbed him.

Oh no. If were getting sucked in, youre coming with us! Naru shouted.  
Besides. Sakura and Ayame are the only ones here that can actually survive out in space right now. Ayako answered.  
Ayame, the engines are going to overload soon. We wont be able to keep this up.  
*Himeihoshi, are you SURE youre giving it everything?  
*YES!!! I deactivated every last output limiter! But its starting to hurt! I feel like Im passing a stone or something!  
Himeihoshi, you technically cant! Ayame shouted.  
*Its the only analogy I could come up with! Himeihoshi shot back.

Just then, the Sun Empress engines cut out from overload, pulling them backwards as if they were going down a drain. Himeihoshi pushed with all his might, but his engines cut out too, as they were dragged backwards into the hole.

MOM!!!!!!!!!!!! Sakura and Ayame both shouted.  
Sakura! Ayame! Amaterasu exclaimed as she felt their life force. She began to focus her power as the ship disappeared and the portal closed behind them.

Everyone screamed as if they were on an involuntary roller coaster ride as the ship buckled and shook as Ayame attempted to turn the thing around again so they would have a better view of where they were going, which only caused more violent shaking. Everyone hung on for dear life as the ship was hurtled through a long well lit tunnel, as every alarm on the ship began to blare, adding to the confusion. At last, a hole of black seemed to appear at the end of the tunnel, as the ship was whipped out, tumbling randomly, as Ayame tried desperately to get the ship to stop before everyone threw up. After a few seconds of firing the verniers, she succeeded; and that was when the whole ship went black before the emergency lights came on. The Sun Empress began to drift towards a space station, unawares of what was about to happen to them.  



	2. The Mysterious Houseguest

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War.**  
**Chapter 2: The Mysterious Houseguest.**

*"_Phantom Express_ to _Sun Empress_, do you read? Come in _Sun Empress_!" Enzeru repeated over and over again.

It had happened so suddenly, the team had very little time to react before the ship was dragged into some sort of portal and instantly vanished. They had hoped the ship had not completely disappeared, but now it was looking like that was the case.

"What do we do now ma'am?" came the question from her unit.  
"Head back to Osaki's and figure out what went on." she explained.

Elsewhere, on a beach somewhere, the trio of Megumi, Suiren, and Yoko were sunning away, soon after beating up on what everyone seemed to agree, Link from Legend of Zelda. Even Makoto, the Priest of Amaterasu, Shougo, Ayako's stupid brother who was dating Yoko's friend Megumi, thought it was quite weird. As did Sage, who had come along not to keep Suiren company, but to hit on every girl in the immediate area. They were unawares of what had happened a short while ago until Suiren's cell phone went of. She sat up, stretched her arms and picked up.

*"Hello?" she asked.  
*"Suiren, you and the others should head to the palace. I have some bad news." Amaterasu explained.

Within a a matter of minutes, the Ronin, Warlords, and Seishi had found their way up to the palace where Amaterasu proceeded to fill the team in on the situation.

"What is it Mom?" Suiren asked.  
"After the disturbances first hit, Ayame, Sakura, and Kinjiro went into space to investigate. After accidentally tampering with something on it, they got sucked into a portal and we have no idea where they ended up. I used some of my power to redirect them away from oblivion, but did not have enough time to specify a output point, so they could be anywhere."

"This is a bad thing why?" Yuri asked.  
"In addition to Kinjiro, Sakura and Ayame, Toshihiko and Kazuhiko were along for firepower. However, they had brought along Ayako and Naru for the ride." Amaterasu explained.  
"You allowed them to go along? What were you thinking?" Anubis shouted.  
"If you must blame someone, you can blame Ayame and Sakura when they get back, if they get back. They decided to bring them as anime and video game tour guides."  
"So what are supposed to do?" Rowen asked.  
"At the moment, there is nothing. But we still don't know where those portals are opening from, or who is opening them. Head back to the house, and I will inform you if anything else happens."

_Later..._

"So, how did it go?" Mia asked as the group returned to the mansion.  
"Bad. Very bad. Portals are being opened to Earth, but we don't know where they're originating. The ship we sent up to investigate disappeared, but don't know where it ended up. So we're still at square one. I don't know how things could get any worse around here!" Anubis explained.  
"And worse! My girlfriend's missing again!" Ryo shouted as if his issue was more important.  
"Then maybe this will put you in a better mood. I rented out one of the rooms in the mansion."  
"YOU WHAT?" Anubis exclaimed.  
"Correction. They just got worse." Dais said.  
"This could be interesting." Sekhmet answered.  
"Do you have any idea how dangerous this is Mia? They'll be sharing the house with US!" Kale protested.  
"All I hope is that you rented it out to some cute girl!" Sage chimed.  
"I hope this new houseguest doesn't eat all MY food." Kento added.  
"Great. Another mouth to feed." Sai added.  
"How the hell does this help my situation?" Ryo shot in, oblivious to the new circumstances.  
"That's great Mia. So when does the mystery guest arrive?" Rowen asked.  
"Oh, I talked to him a few minutes before you guys got back. He'll be here in an hour."  
"HE???" Sage exclaimed, angry that he would not get some new cute girl to flirt with.  
"Yes, he. I'm not going to subject any girl to living with the nine of you, especially when they pay rent and YOU DON'T!" Mia snapped.  
"Did you say an hour?" Anubis asked.  
"Yes, an hour." Mia replied, not knowing where this was going.  
"Dais, go turn off the motion sensors. Sekhmet, shut off the laser cannons. Kale, go dig up the land mines, I'll take care of the missile launchers and everything else."  
"Anubis, what are you guys talking about?" Rowen asked.  
"Well, with the Forgotten Souls on the Isle of Mists, the mansion's been left unguarded so we had to take certain precautions to secure the mansion. We have no time to loose."

_An hour later..._

"Good, I think we took care of everything." Anubis replied.  
"Yeah! All the land mines are disarmed!" Kale said, covered in gunpowder with various scars.  
"The motion sensors are off." Dais answered.  
"Same for the lasers." Sekhmet reported.  
"Good. But it seems as if we forgot something."  
"KALE! How dare you track gunpowder into the house! He'll be here any minute now!" she answered, polishing him to the point where they needed sunglasses as she hurriedly headed off to clean the REST of the house.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Oh he's here finally!" Mia shouted.  
"TAKE COVER!!!!" Anubis and the other Warlords shouted as they dove for cover behind the couch, finally remembering what they did not disarm.

Mia opened the door to find a six foot tall man with long red hair tied in the back, a Ralph Lauren button down collared shirt with the two top buttons undone, and a white t-shirt with a Black Sports coat and silver chain around his neck. He wore black khaki pants with a pair of black Converse sneakers.

"Hello, I'm here about the room?" he asked.  
"Oh, please come in!" Mia shouted, inviting the guy into the house as he brought various bags inside.

"This is Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Sai, and Kento. Guys, this is Mr. Fawkes." Mia explained.  
"Excuse me, but what are those four doing behind the couch?" Mr. Fawkes asked, pointing to Anubis and the others taking cover.

"They're...um practicing for an earthquake drill!" Rowen said quickly.

Like comics at an improv show, Anubis and the others sprung into action.

"Yes, yes, that was very good!" Anubis said as the four got to their feet. "But Kale, you have to dive at a better angle! And Dais, you call that taking cover? We're going to rehearse this until we get it right!" Anubis shouted.  
"May I see the room?" Mr. Fawkes asked.  
"Oh of course! Follow me."

The group headed upstairs to the top floor, as Mia pulled down a stepladder leading to the extremely spacious attic, which had been turned into the ultimate living suite.

"This is it." Mia explained.  
"Not bad." Mr. Fawkes replied.  
"Not bad? She gave you the best room in the house!" Kento shouted.  
"HOW DARE SHE!!!! WE WERE PLANNING TO USE THE ROOM AS A STAGING AREA!!!!" Anubis whispered loudly to the Ronins.  
"Well, with the cost of room and board, utilities and so on, the total cost comes to..." Mia explained.  
"Will this cover it?" Mr. Fawkes asked, producing a diamond. Mia's eyes bulged out as Rowen grabbed the gem and came back a few minutes later that it was real.  
"More than cover it." Mia explained.  
"Good." Mr. Fawkes replied.

The next day_, _just before dinner, Anubis and the Warlords called the Ronin up to his room. This was very important..at least, Anubis and the Warlords thought so.

"Now, as you may or may not know, I've called you all here to discuss our new tenant, and furthermore, why he needs to leave!" Anubis began.  
"Why do you want Suzaki to leave?" Rowen asked.  
"We're not talking about anyone by that name, we're talking about Mr. Fawkes!" Anubis shouted.  
"That's his first name. Remember, he said we could call him that last night." Rowen explained.  
"I refuse to use the given name of anyone who waltzes in and derails our gravy train!" Anubis protested.  
"Come on Anubis, he's not that bad. He has this cool sword that he said I could keep and give to Sakura when she gets back. She'll really get a kick out of it, so much, that she'll probably make me a man." Ryo explained.  
"Please tell me that Ryo's the only one he's won over, and the rest of you think he has to go?!" Anubis asked again.  
"Actually, he gave me this really intriguing detective novel." Rowen added.  
"He gave me this data organizer/black book with passcode feature." Sage said proudly.  
"He gave me a new punching bag!" Kento added.  
"I was worried that I'd have another mouth to feed, but it turns out he's a good cook, and he even bought me a new set of kitchen utensils!" Sai finished.  
"I cannot believe you have all been sucked over to the dark side by means of material possessions!" Anubis shouted angrily.  
"Since when have you bought or given us anything Anubis?" the five said together.

"Guys! Suzaki and I are back from our walk. Dinner's going to be ready in a half hour!  
"I'm coming to help!" Sai said.

A half an hour later, the warriors besides Sai headed downstairs to eat.

"WOW!!!! This is excellent!" Sekhmet exclaimed.  
"This is much better than when Mia cooks!" Kale said, before getting whacked in the head.  
"Sai, you've really outdone yourself this time!" Dais complimented.  
"I have to agree!" Anubis said.  
"Well, actually, I didn't do too much. Suzaki did most of the work, I just helped."

Anubis immediately tried to gag himself to get rid of the gastronomically good but ethically bad food he had just eaten, while the others chanted for dessert.

"HOW DARE YOU ALL BETRAY ME!!!!" Anubis shouted.

"All right, all right. Here's the dessert. It's a delicacy from my homeland. I had to extrapolate and substitute a little, but it should still be good."  
"So, where are you from exactly?" Kento asked.

Before Mr. Fawkes could answer, Anubis abruptly and angrily cut him off.

"I CHALLENGE YOU... TO A DUEL!!!!!!!!!!" Anubis declared in a voice that at the same time said he was down to his last option, and at the same time, said that he had been looking forward to doing this for quite some time.  
"Anubis! How could you be so rude to our guest? Especially after this nice dress he bought me!" Mia replied.  
"I cannot believe you fools have all fallen under his spell! Enough is enough. If I win, he has to leave. If he wins, he can stay!" Anubis shouted.  
"Suzaki, you really don't have to do this." Rowen said.  
"Yeah, Anubis is a real wuss anyhow." Kale shot in, as Anubis whacked him in the head.  
"No, it's all right. If this is what it will take to win the approval of all my housemates, than I have no other choice." Mr. Fawkes replied, turning to Anubis. "Name your terms."

"As I said, if I win, you have to leave!" Anubis shouted.  
"Very well. But if I win, not only do I get to stay, but you must be Mia's personal servant for a week."  
"FINE!" Anubis shot back. "I accept!"

Everyone headed out back as Anubis and Mr. Fawkes squared off and took fighting stances.

"We'll start when the sun starts to disappear beyond the horizon!" Anubis declared.

Mr. Fawkes nodded as Anubis took a fighting stance. Meanwhile, Mr. Fawkes stood there with his hands in his pockets. As the sun started to disappear, Anubis charged him like a bat out of hell, swinging with attack after attack, out of his pocket came Mr. Fawkes' hand as he dodged or blocked all of Anubis' advances. Anubis reached back and swung with a power punch, hitting only air as the punch went through an afterimage of Mr. Fawkes, and before he could figure out what happened he felt the wind knocked clear out of him as he fell to the ground gasping for air.

"He can stay..." Anubis said, completely out of breath as the Warlords carried their former leader into the house.

"I'm sorry about all this." Mr. Fawkes answered.  
"It's all right Suzaki, Anubis had it coming for a long time. Don't you worry, I'll keep him busy." Mia said with a reassuring yet devious smile.

_Meanwhile, up in the Heavens..._

Yuri, Ran, Suiren, and Yoko were watching TV when Navcase walked in.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to attend to Yuriko's needs."  
"What was it this time?" Yuri asked.  
"To be reassured that she wasn't fat, I still loved her, and she was still beautiful. Then she made a list of food she might have a craving for later."

Everyone except Suiren and Yoko sweatdropped.

"So, how much did I miss?" Navcase asked.  
"Everything. It's all over." Yuri stated.

Navcase's eyes widened in shock.

"Yeah, I went to go make some popcorn and when I came back in Yuri said it was all over." Ran added.  
"What did this guy do, hit Anubis with a Kamahameha?" Navcase asked with a voice that actually believed that something as bizarre as that scenario had occurred to take Anubis down.  
"No, just his fist. And to make matters worse, Anubis had more openings than a 7-11 on him and got shut down." Yuri explained.  
"This can't be!" Navcase replied in disbelief.  
"Hey, we taped it, so if you don't believe us you can watch it and see for yourself. Just wait until Suiren and Yoko snap out of it." Yuri said.  
"What do you mean?" Navcase asked, looking at the two girls and then at the freeze frame of a head shot of Mr. Fawkes and replied, "Never mind."

Meanwhile, Amaterasu was also staring at her screen, looking at this unusual man who had simply walked in and taken one of her best Seishi without breaking a sweat.

"Who are you...Suzaki Fawkes?" Amaterasu said softly to herself.

Next Episode:

_(Navcase can barely speak over Suiren's and Yoko's screams)_

NAVCASE: Well, due to Amaterasu's worries, I head down to size this new person up, Suiren and Yoko tag along.

SUIREN AND YOKO: We get to meet the new BISHIE!!!!"

NAVCASE_(sweatdrops)_: Who is this mysterious person, and why does his look send chills down my spine?

SUIREN AND YOKO: WE DON'T CARE, HE'S TOO GORGEOUS!!!!

NAVCASE: Next Episode of Ronin Warriors, Illusionary War: Growing Pains. See you soon.

_(Suiren and Yoko continue to scream)_

NAVCASE: Very soon. 


	3. Growing Pains

Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War  
Chapter 3: Growing Pains

Sitting in her special chambers, replaying the dramatic and sudden defeat of Anubis at the hands of one Suzaki Fawkes had Amaterasu worried. How could someone manage to beat one of her Seishi, who had stood against Drakka and defeated him? Even without actually using his Seishi powers, Anubis should have lasted longer than a few minutes. But yet he went down in just that time. Something was odd about this newcomer, and she had to find out what.

"You sent for me, Amaterasu?" Navcase asked as he was let into her chambers.  
"Yes Navcase. How is Yuriko doing?" she asked.  
"Fine. Emotional, and craving everything, but fine. But I trust you did not call me here simply to discuss Yuriko's present situation." Navcase said.  
"Precisely. I trust you viewed the fight between Anubis and this Suzaki Fawkes person?"  
"Indeed. I find it very hard to believe myself that an accomplished warrior such as Anubis could be beaten by a mere mortal." Navcase explained.  
"As do I. I want you to head down to Earth and assess this person. Compared to Anubis and Ryo, you are much better at reading people's energy than they are." Amaterasu explained.  
"Consider it done." Navcase explained, kneeling before her and then walking out towards the portal room. It was not long before he picked up that he was being followed. "What do you two want?" he asked.  
"You're going down to see the Ronin, right?" Suiren asked, grabbing his arm.  
"Perhaps..." Navcase replied.  
"Can we come with you?" Yoko asked, grabbing his other arm.  
"Let me guess, you want to see this new guy for yourselves, correct?" Navcase asked.

The two girls nodded.

"Then I am sorry. This mission is strictly business." he answered, heading off down the hall, only to find them still on his heels.  
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese?" Yoko and Suiren said in unison.  
"No! This is a mission to assess him and see whether or not we should be worried about him, not to flirt with him!" Navcase answered again, continuing to head down the hall with the two girls following behind him.  
"I told you before, this is strictly business! There is no way you can convince me to let me take you along."

A few minutes later...

"Accursed puppy dog pout." Navcase mumbled as he found himself standing at the Ronin's front door with Yoko and Suiren.  
"Works every time." Suiren and Yoko said, giving each other a high five.

Suiren reached out and rang the doorbell, as various energy cannons, missile launchers, and whatnot came out of the ground, trained on the three, and began opening fire on them, fortunately Navcase was able to put up his shield fast enough with an additional barrier from Yoko and added help from Suiren. Eventually the weapons either ran out of ammo or were disarmed. The door swung open to reveal a very frightened Mia, as the barriers came down.

"I am so sorry! ANUBIS! YOU INSISTED YOU'D TURNED THAT ALARM OFF!" Mia shouted in his direction, as massive amounts of dusting were continued.  
"Oh! Navcase! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"  
"Your new house guest. Amaterasu is concerned after how Anubis was beaten so easily."  
"IT WAS A LUCKY SHOT!!!!" Anubis shot back, clad in a French maid's uniform.  
"We're here to see the Bishie! So where is he?" Suiren and Yoko asked in unison.  
"I'm guessing you mean Suzaki."  
"Did someone call my name?" he asked as he descended the steps, to what seemed like to the girls, slow motion, with sparklies everywhere.  
"Mia, you didn't tell me you were expecting company." Mr. Fawkes said.  
"I wasn't expecting any. They just showed up."  
"I see...tell me, where are you ladies from?" Mr. Fawkes asked.  
"Heaven..." the two girls said dreamily.  
"Er, they're a little out of it. I believe the two of them are so captivated by you that they're at a loss for words. We're from uptown. WAAAAAY uptown." Navcase explained, trying to cover Suiren and Yoko's fumble.  
"Yeah, exactly." Suiren replied, coming back to her senses.  
"Then how do you know I was here?"  
"We saw the video." Yoko said.  
"-Email! Yes, email, that I sent them about you." Mia cut in, glaring at Yoko for almost blowing their cover, again.  
"_I sense a very strong vibe from him no da."_  
"Then why aren't I feeling it too?" Yoko said to herself.  
"_You're not as sensitive to these things. It will come with time no da."_

As Yoko had a conversation with her ancestor, Navcase had begun to read Mr. Fawkes' energy. At first, it did not seem to be that much, nothing to worry about, until he dug a little deeper, and found the mother lode. The energy sent a chill up his spine and nearly knocked him off his feet, it was so powerful. Stronger than he had ever felt off of anyone. Whoever this Mr. Fawkes was, he gave off a vibe as if he had been fighting forever. His Kenki was enormous, his Rei was off the charts.

"Navcase, are you okay?" Mia asked as the Sword of Heaven nearly collapsed in her living room. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen and get you some water."

Mia led the warrior to the kitchen as Suiren and Yoko stood and continued to drool over Mia's new house guest.

"Are you all right Navcase?" Mia asked as she poured him a glass of water.  
"Yes, I'll be fine in a little while."  
"What happened?" Mia asked.  
"I tried to read his energy and it hit me like a ton of bricks. There's something very fishy about that man, aside from Yoko and Suiren drooling over him."  
"AH! So you agree!" Anubis said as he came into the kitchen to clean it.  
"He didn't say that, he simply said there's something fishy about him."  
"Of course there is! He's bought out all the Ronin and Mia, and got to the Warlords through their stomachs. He must go!"  
"That's not what I was speaking of. You tell me you haven't felt that strong energy vibe he's giving off? It nearly knocked me to the floor when I tried to read him!" Navcase replied.  
"No, can't say I have. I just have a bad feeling about him, but I haven't tried to sense his energy."  
"Your inability to sense must have something to do with your armor. Now that you no longer have your old armor, your other abilities have been slow to develop. Your bad vibe about him must be your energy reacting with his."  
"Hey Navcase, what are you doing here?" Ryo asked as he walked into the kitchen.  
"Amaterasu sent me. She's concerned about how quickly Anubis was beaten by Mr. Fawkes."  
"I keep telling you, it was a lucky shot!" Anubis protested.  
"Then again, as Yuri put it, you had 'more openings on him than a 7-11 and were still shut down'." Navcase explained.  
"Anubis is just being paranoid. He's a really nice guy." Ryo explained.  
"So you haven't felt anything from him either?" Navcase asked.  
"No, not really." Ryo answered.  
"I don't understand. His aura was right there, screaming out at me. It's like a big neon sign sticking up from the needle in the haystack."  
"OH THE HORROR!!!!" Sage came shouting from upstairs.  
"I suppose we should go check it out." Ryo said as the group rushed upstairs.  
"Sage! What is it?" Mia asked.  
"It's Suiren! She's been won over by him! Yoko too!"

The guys peeked into Mr. Fawkes' room to find Suiren giving him a massage, as Yoko waited on him hand and foot.

"Do you get it yet? The man is evil!" Anubis exclaimed.  
"Anubis, don't you have more CLEANING to do?" Mia asked.

Anubis grabbed his feather duster and walked off grumbling as Kento barged in and asked what was for dinner.

"Actually, I'm not sure. I can't think of anything. How about we go out? My treat." Mr. Fawkes answered.  
"Cool! Hey everyone! We're going out and Mr. Fawkes is paying!" Kento shouted.

The group raced downstairs, and climbed into either Mia's Jeep or Suiren's Aston Martin convertible, and took off for food. In the back seat, Anubis was once again hatching a plan.

"Now, for this to work, I need the three of you to help me." Anubis explained.  
"Anubis, what are you doing this time..." Dais asked.  
"We're going to challenge Mr. Fawkes again." Anubis continued to explain.  
"Need we remind you of what happened last time you did that?" Sekhmet asked.  
"I'm not going to challenge him to a duel. I'm going to challenge him to a DRINKING CONTEST!" Anubis declared, causing the other Warlords to sweatdrop. "And I need the three of you to help me."

Kale, Sekhmet, and Dais reluctantly agreed.

Soon after they arrived, Anubis declared his challenge to Mr. Fawkes, causing the others to wish they were not at the same table. Suiren and Yoko were too busy swooning to care.

"I see. So, the four of you vs. me. You win, I leave, I win, your punishment gets extended. Fair enough. Waiter, bring on the first round!"

Several rounds later...

"Yeah! Take that! Nobody messes with the Dark Warlords of the Dynasty! We don't need our armor to kick your asses! I Anubis, the Dark Warlord of Cruelty, request another round!"

The shot glasses were placed before the group, as they took the next shot.

"Yeah! Take that! Yeah! Who's the champ? Who's the Champ!" Anubis asked before passing out, landing on the floor where Kale, Sekhmet, and Dais were already passed out.

The Next Morning...

A loud scream erupted from the kitchen as the Ronin rushed past the Warlords on their way to the bathroom to find Kento in the kitchen.

"What's up Kento?" Sai asked.  
"ALL THE FOOD'S GONE!!!!" he shouted, causing the others to facefault.  
"Come on Kento, it can't be all gone. Mia went food shopping yesterday." Ryo answered.

The five heroes began to scavenge through the kitchen, but sure enough, the cupboards were bare. Their frantic searching had caused the others' stomachs to grumble as Sai spotted a small box of cereal over in the corner, just about the same time as the others did.

"I SAW IT FIRST!!!" Kento shouted, diving for the box, as the others attempted to tackle him to keep him away from it. Sai got his hands on it, only to be tripped by Rowen, who grabbed it, only to be tackled by Sage, which knocked it out of his hands as Kento intercepted and forced Ryo out of the way, making a beeline for the living room, only to have the door suddenly opened by Navcase, causing the box to fly out of his hands and back the other way, and somehow open, causing flakes to fall everywhere around the kitchen.

"May I ask what is going on?" Navcase wondered.  
"All the Food's gone!" Kento exclaimed.  
"I may have an answer for your question Kento. Follow me."

The starving Ronin followed Navcase upstairs to Mr. Fawkes' room, where their mouths stood agape at the gigantic breakfast in bead feast Mia, Yoko, and Suiren had whipped up for him.

"MY FOOD!!!!!" Kento exclaimed.  
"Your food? It's ours too!" Ryo shouted.  
"Come on guys, I'm sure Suiren, Yoko, and Mia have a good explanation for this." Sage answered.  
"We decided to make him breakfast in bed!" the girls said innocently.

The group facefaulted.

"It's all right. I couldn't possibly finish all of this. Help yourselves." Mr. Fawkes answered as Kento immediately dove for a plate of bacon which Yoko tried to pry away from him. Unfortunately Yoko won, forcing Kento to sulk out, as she stood guard over the rest of the food.

"'Come on guys, we'll go out for breakfast." Rowen said, trying to defuse the situation.  
"Maybe we should ask Anubis and the others if they'd like to join us." Sai said.

As if in answer, more throwing up was heard coming from the bathroom.

"But I think they still need more time to recover from their hangovers."

The five heroes, along with Navcase, headed out to a nearby breakfast place, seeing that all the food in the house was gone thanks to Mia.

"Anubis is right, he needs to go!" Kento declared.  
"Yes, he has taken our food, and our women!" Sage added in.  
"He's not that bad!" Rowen protested.  
"I beg to differ. I felt a strong power emanating from him. It nearly knocked me to the floor. Something is up with him."  
"See, even Navcase agrees with us!" Kento added.  
"I told Anubis the same thing. I am sure. He is not."

A morning talk show was suddenly interrupted by live pictures from elsewhere in Toyama.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin. Approximately fifteen minutes ago an odd portal with an orange globe and green pixelated center appeared downtown. A hulking figure emerged from it, which one of our interns has identified as Nemesis from Biohazard*, has appeared from it and has begun to open fire. At least fifteen officers thus far have been killed or injured, and the property damage is rising."  
"I'll go and see what I can do. You five catch up." Navcase said, getting up abruptly. "Kento, you can have what's left of mine."

Navcase rushed outside and quickly changed into his Seishi gear.

"Hmm, no energy signature. I probably shouldn't take any chances."

Calling out to the heavens, he shouted, "ARMOR OF HOPE!!!! TAO KIBOU!!!!!"

Double X formed around him as he blasted off for downtown, where Nemesis was on a rampage. Navcase came crashing down with his beam saber, cutting into the monstrosities' arm as it roared in pain and began opening fire with its chaincannon as Navcase ducked behind his shield and attempted to return cover fire. However, his clip ran out quickly.

"Damn. Out of ammo. It's too hard to hit him at close range, and it's too dangerous to fire the satellite cannons. What am I going to do?"

As if in answer, a powerful shell sailed through the air, slamming into Nemesis, and knocking it over. A heavy roar of thrusters was heard as windows shattered, as the familiar orange form of Yuri landed in front of Navcase, who had taken cover behind a car.

"Stay back." Yuri answered as her pylons locked into the pavement, as she let Nemesis have it again with her dober gun. "I've always wanted to fight him this way. You're not so tough when all your opponent's got is a bunch of dinky pistols! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Yuri shouted, disengaging her pylons, placing her cannon on her back and charging towards the monstrosity with her Knuckle Bomber charging, firing several railgun shots into the monster as well, as she punched with her unpowered gauntlet, planting an S-mine, and then knocking herself back in the other direction with a blow from her Knuckle Bomber. The thing somehow got to its feet, and was rocked by another explosion as the bomb went off.

"Take that!" Yuri shouted back, quite proud of herself, before Nemesis got a bead on her and opened fire with its rocket launcher, as Navcase knocked her out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack.

"Navcase!" Yuri shouted. "Why you..." she said angrily as she began reaching for the Mega Smashers on her chest.  
"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!!!!!" came Kento's voice as the attack ripped into the monster. The others laid down cover fire with their vulcans and cannons as Rowen rushed forward to extract Navcase.

"Are you all right?" Rowen asked.  
"I'll be fine. Luckily, it was only the armor."

A badly damaged Navcase stood up and attempted to deploy the cannons to try and finish off Nemesis, but they would not deploy. Damage reports told him that the mechanisms were damaged. The damage was so severe, that it would shut down in a matter of minutes, as his display flashed between static and Nemesis leveling his launcher at Navcase for a final blow. He would be unable to move, as the power was basically out. The display went black just as the missile was fired.

"Yuriko...I'm sorry I couldn't be there...for you...and our child..." he began to say to himself.

The missile streaked towards Navcase as the others rushed to knock him out of the way, as Ryo tried to get a bead on it.

"YURIKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Navcase shouted, as there was a brilliant flash of light erupting from his armor, as it began to restructure itself into a new form: an upgraded Red Astray. Energy also flew towards Rowen, as his armor became Double X. The missile was split down the middle by Navcase's sword.

"Ah. This is more appropriate. Armor of Crimson Hope!" Navcase declared. "This armor is not as cumbersome, and furthermore, it allows me to perform my special techniques as they were meant to be done!" Navcase declared.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu! KUZU RYU SEN!!!!!" Navcase declared as he streaked towards Nemesis, knocking it back through the portal, which closed behind them. Navcase sheathed his sword.

"I should return to the Heavens now and report in. Tell Yoko and Suiren I've gone back, that is if you can pry them off of Mr. Fawkes." Navcase replied as a portal opened and Yuri and he stepped through it.

Later...

"As you can see Amaterasu, the something is definitely up with this Suzaki Fawkes. He has managed to charm every girl that sees him, and far worse, he has a dangerous concentration of both fighting spirit and Rei energy. What should we do about the situation?" Navcase asked.  
"I'm not sure. But we definitely must keep a close eye on him. Something is not right with him." Amaterasu said as she watched a screen with him sitting on the windowsill playing the flute and the three girls asleep on the floor in front of him.

**Next Episode**

UNFAMILIAR VOICE: Next Episode, Full Moon Assault, stay tuned.

*The Japanese name for Resident Evil, if you haven't figured it out yet.  



	4. Full Moon Assault

As the Ronin slept, a large, spiderlike purple craft slowly approached Earth. From its bridge, the shadowy crew looked down upon the blue orb below them.

"Release the dropships.>" someone said in an alien language.

Two large hangars on top of the vessel opened up as streams of white and purple ships flew out of them, several dozen heading for North America, Europe, and the other major continents. A smaller group set a course for Japan. Their shields flared as they came in contact with the atmosphere, quickly making it down through the clouds and raced across the sea, staying low to the ground in order to prevent detection. They slowed down as they approached the mainland, and landed several miles outside of Toyama, on the opposite side of where Mia's house was. The ships shone in the moonlight as activity began inside.

"We have arrived at our destination, Lord Ramito.>" one of the pilots explained.  
"Excellent. Open the stasis pods. We have much to do before the sun rises." Lord Ramito commanded.

Gas began to shoot out from each of the stasis pods in the back of one of the ships as people and miscellaneous humanoids climbed out and began donning battle armor and grabbing rifles from racks along the sides of the craft as they charged outside. Plantish humanoids began exiting as well as various people apparently holding bows also exited. Finally, four legged spider walker things seemingly brimming with weapons were the last to set foot outside.

"All right D Company, listen up! Lord Ramito wants this base set up before sunrise. 1st Platoon, deploy the probes and get the base set up. Second platoon, stand by until we get the Psychic Chamber up. 3rd Platoon, get to the trees and find some sniper nests, the rest of you, plant yourselves. 4th Platoon, begin patrolling the area. If you find hostiles, take care of them. We're vulnerable until we get that M-Field Generator up.>" D Company's commander ordered.

The First Platoon made its way along the side of the ship, opening up hatches near the bottom as little probe things flew out, as one of the Squad leaders fiddled with a remote of some sort that had the machines remove small objects from their bay, bring it out to a position, and then fire a beam that within a matter of seconds had enlarged the miniature into a full sized building. Other probes followed suit, putting up additional buildings around the landing site. More infantry came filing out of the other dropships and into the structure that was probably a barracks, while other robed troopers headed over to a tower of some sort. Even more plantlike humanoids emerged and also headed for the barracks, as more soldiers with bows followed suit. Other mechanical troops that shone in the moonlight also made their way for the barracks. Another building went up, and the Second platoon floated over to it and went inside. Most of the additional four legged contraptions set down around another building, sort of collapsing into a storage form. One of the robed figures spotted the apparent commander and saluted.

"M-Field Generator is up and running, base is online sir."> the company commander stated.  
"Excellent Job, Niru. I trust all went well?"> Lord Ramito asked.  
"Almost. Platoon leader Jata is not pleased with waiting."> Niru reported.  
"Keep an eye on him, Niru. If he gets out of hand, I will deal with him."> Lord Ramito said.  
"As you wish, Lord Ramito."> Niru said, saluting again.

Lord Ramito was saluted again as he came aboard one of the dropships.

"Patch me through to High Lord Ayosuf."> Lord Ramito asked.  
"Aye sir."> a pilot responded.

On a screen before him, the form of High Lord Ayosuf appeared. It was difficult to make him out due to the dim lighting, but his hair shone from it.

"1st Battalion is in position, High Lord. Your orders?"> Lord Ramito asked.  
"Stay under the cover of the M-Field until tomorrow night. You may then begin your assessment of the enemy."> High Lord Ayosuf commanded.  
"As you wish, High Lord."> Lord Ramito answered, as the buildings from the base and the patrolling soldiers were enveloped in a forest, as if they were never there.

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 4: Full Moon Assault.**

The sun rose over Toyama as the normal day to day activities began in earnest, the populous unawares of the previous night's landing. Over at Mia's, the others were snug in their beds as Anubis rose early to take care of his extended torture of cleaning the house after loosing at a drinking contest to Mr. Fawkes. However, the new tenant was nowhere to be found, as he had mysteriously snuck out of the house.

The hours ticked by slowly but surely as the Heavens sprung to life as well, as Suiren and Yoko returned to lay out in the sun, as even Ran and Yuri got in on it. Navcase was off practicing with his sword as a message came in from Osaki Heavy Industries.

"Your Eminence, we've picked up something on our early warning satellites that you might be interested in." the second in command at Osaki said.

Motoko Jishou was the Director of Operations over at Osaki Heavy Industries. With Kinjiro's disappearance, it was up to her to make sure that all of the miscellaneous machines and gadgets Kinjiro and Ayame had put together were kept in perfect working order. Although it had been increasingly harder to run things without the two around to dream up new ideas that could stand up to demons and the like. For the most part, the company had been sticking to its numerous military contracts. But negotiations with decorated military brass from around the world was nothing like talking with a seemingingly omnipotent being that could possibly give the planet an extremely bad sunburn if you ticked her off. It had taken a little getting used to, but she still hoped that Kinjiro would be back soon. VERY soon.

"Put it up." Amaterasu said.

An image flashed on screen from one of Osaki's surveillance satellites. Normally they were there to monitor things ON Earth, but this one had managed to pick up some sort of spacecraft early that morning. It had uncloaked, released hundreds of smaller ships towards Earth, and then disappeared again.

"Is that ship still there?" Amaterasu asked.  
"We're pretty sure of it. We've tried all kinds of scanning on it, but the hull is made up of some substance that we can't identify, so we can't scan through it. We do know, that of all those ships, about five of them were headed for Japan." she explained.  
"Do we have any idea where they landed?" Amaterasu asked.  
"We've narrowed their location to somewhere north of Toyama."  
"But why land there? Why not Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, or some other more significant city? Unless...whomever or whatever landed is looking for someone or something." Amaterasu concluded.

Near the landing site, a cloaked figure sat in a nearby tree, assessing the situation. Somehow, he was able to see through the M-Field and into the base.

"Great. They're here already, and they've set up shop. They've got one company guarding the base it seems. Heavy Borgs, those shrubs are definitely Demetarians, and there's definitely Space Elves hiding in the trees somewhere. There's probably even more soldiers waiting in the barracks. This is not good. I hope the Ronin can handle these guys."

Almost caught unawares, one of the Heavy Borgs had indeed spotted him, and was locking on with its mortar cannon. It fired just as the cloaked figure noticed the shot and leapt from the tree just as the mortar hit, blasting the tree to smithereens. He landed on his feet and went for the staff on his back just as vines shot out and grabbed it, pulling it away and tying him up as well as various plant people stepped out at the other end of the vines.

"We have you now."> one of the plants said.  
"Not necessarily."> the cloaked figure said as he flexed his muscles and broke free, launching into various martial arts moves that quickly regained his weapon and beat the plant things to the ground. One of the Heavy Borgs took aim at him with its particle beam and fired, as he leapt forward into a roll and came up with his staff glowing and a flaming arrow notched in it, which he let fly, causing a large explosion on the Heavy Borg as it went down. Its buddies lumbered over to try and lay down cover fire as he took off running and then spreading large red wings from his back and flying as energy blasts and razor sharp leaves were flung his way. The plants saluted as one of the robed soldiers emerged from a bunker and came over, with a sword at one side and a pistol on the other.

"What happened?"> the officer asked.  
"The target was observing our base, Platoon Leader Jata. We exchanged fire and he headed off towards the city."> one of the plants answered.  
"Good work. Redeploy and protect the base. My unit will hunt him down and bring him back here before he can find anyone to help him. D Company, 1st Platoon, ATTENTION!"> Jata commanded.  
"What battle calls sir?"> his troops responded as they emerged from the bunkers.  
"The target is headed for the city. Whichever one of you manages to catch him is looking at a serious bonus."> Jata explained.  
"What sort of bonus sir?">" one of the soldiers asked.  
"I don't know yet. But it will be a good one. All right, let's move out! FOR ASTERRA!"> Jata commanded.  
"FOR ASTERRA!!!!"> the troop shouted in unison as all lifted off the ground and began flying towards the city of Toyama.

The red winged figure soared over the downtown area as he glanced over his shoulder to see the numerous flying Miraju soldiers chasing after him. Thinking it would be best to hide amongst the concrete jungle below, he dove from the sky, and carefully landed in the streets, ducking around into an alley as the Miraju hovered overhead.

"We lost him sir!"> one of the soldiers responded.  
"Then we'll just have to smoke him out. Land and prepare to open fire!"> Platoon Leader Jata shouted.  
"At once sir!"> the troops answered as they alighted and proceeded to send shimmering blasts of energy into buildings and vehicles, destroying them quickly and damaging other things. Pedestrians unlucky enough to wander into their area were cut down by a second type of blast that sent a shock through their systems, causing them to convulse and fall to the ground.

"Come out Hoen! Hand over the secret of your longevity to us or that of these people will be considerably cut short!"> Jata shouted, hitting someone with a force blast from his unusual archaic pistol.  
"You want me, you've got me."> the cloaked figure answered, stepping out from the shadows.  
"Get him!"> Jata shouted, as his troops opened fire. The cloaked figure put up some sort of flaming shield to fend off the blasts as he once again drew his bow and sent more eagle arrows flying at them, forcing them to run for cover before returning fire again. More flaming arrows were sent their way, but they put up barriers to repel them.  
"The Ronin and Seishi should be here by now. Surely they must have noticed all of the commotion." the cloaked figure thought to himself. Unless they're still hung over from last night...:"

Back at the mansion, the only god most people were acknowledging in the house was a porcelain one as Ralph received several calls to his phone bill on a white phone. Very few of the group were actually NOT hung over, as Rowen had been smart enough not to drink, and the Warlords, save for Sekhmet, also abstained from consuming anything due to their issues LAST time. Mia was also hung over and fighting over the bathroom with Kento, Ryo, Sage, and Sai, as the rest of the group emerged mostly free of their indulgences the previous night. But by far the weirdest thing aside from the many people hung over was that Mr. Fawkes was mysteriously absent from the premises.

Up in the Heavens, Amaterasu observed the situation through her various magical mirrors. This was bad. Whomever these things were, they were quite dangerous, and would have to be stopped. That, and this mysterious cloaked person seemed to know a great deal about them. Loosing him to this apparent enemy would not bode well for the Earth.

"Your Eminence, what is it?" Navcase said as he entered her chambers.  
"We have a new threat to worry about. Unusual creatures are chasing down someone in Toyama at the moment. I believe the person they are chasing is the same one who appeared towards the end of the confrontation with Drakka. I cannot tell whether he is friend or foe, but it is imperative that we find out who he is before the creatures can silence him."  
"I will go at once. I trust the Ronin will meet me there?" Navcase asked.  
"I have tried to send a message to them, but I am getting no response. You may have to go it alone." Amaterasu answered.  
"What about the girls?"  
"They're out by the pool."  
"ALL of them?" Navcase said, his eyes widened in shock.  
"Yes. But I am sure that Yuri and Ran will be happy to come along. I cannot say the same for Suiren and..."  
"Yes your Eminence, I would bet both my sword and my own life that Yoko will not want to come on this mission. I doubt we could get her undivided commitment and attention even if the forces of evil were decimating a mall." Navcase answered.

Off Navcase went towards the pool to see if he could get any other help. It was strange for Amaterasu to be unable to contact the Ronin and the two Earth bound Seishi, but little did either know that the bathroom was garrisoned by the hungover people in the house and attributed the ringing of the mirror to their condition rather than a message from Amaterasu. Navcase arrived at the pool to find all three of the remaining She-Ronin and one disinterested Seishi lying by the pool working on their tans rather than their combat readiness. Their limp and relaxed statures indicated that he would be going this alone as he expected, but suddenly Ran stirred, stretching her arms and yawning, before lifting her sunglasses and taking off Yuri's headphones to spy Navcase standing there.

"Hey Navcase, what's up?" she asked in her usual cute voice, which was well relaxed at the moment.  
"Amaterasu is unable to reach the others, and there is a small force currently terrorizing Toyama, chasing after the same cloaked figure we spotted during the final confrontation with Drakka. She is positive that he knows something about his attackers, and possibly about the weird occurrences thus far."  
"So you need some backup? Sure. It's been sort of boring around here lately." Ran said, stretching up some more and sitting up in her lounge chair, and began to try and wake up Yuri, who was probably more gone than she was.  
"Yuri! Wake up! Navcase needs some help!" Ran shouted.  
"Keep it down Ran...I'm trying to sleep here..." Suiren mumbled, a hat over her face.  
"Yeah, like ditto. The only thing I want to work on today is my tan." Yoko seconded.  
"Huh, wha?" Yuri said as she started to wake up.  
"Navcase needs our help, otherwise he'll be going into battle alone!" Ran shouted again.  
"Battle?!" Yuri exclaimed, snapping awake in an instant. "Why didn't you say so? And what about the guys?"  
"Navcase says he doesn't know. Mom can't get through to them. So as far as I can tell, we'll be going at this alone." Ran explained.  
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Yuri said, racing off for the hangar as Ran and Navcase hurried after her.  
"Where are we going?" Ran called after her well built sister.  
"To the hangar! If we can't call the guys, we can at least pick them up, and we'll need wheels, or in this case, treads." Yuri explained.  
"Oh no...I don't like the sound of this..."

Several minutes later, a portal opened on the nearest road to Mia's house, sending cars careening out of the way as a large tank lumbered out of it, driving as fast as it could. An armored Ran and a Seishi-robed Navcase manned the twin Brownings on top of I.J. as he barreled towards Mia's house, singing Jodie's all the way there. At last he pulled up in front of Mia's. Then, all hell broke loose.

"ALL RIGHT YOU LAZY ARMOR CLAD SISSIES, GET YOUR SORRY ASSES OUT OF BED AND OUT HERE ON THE DOUBLE, BEFORE I BLAST YOU A NEW ONE!" I.J. bellowed, forcing Yuri, Ran, and Navcase to cover their ears, despite the fact that Yuri was within all of his heavy armor which should have drowned out the noise pollution.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD DILLY-DALLY? FALL OUT HERE ON THE DOUBLE! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE! THERE IS JUSTICE THAT NEEDS TO BE HANDED OUT, AND NOBODY, I MEAN NOBODY, KEEPS ME FROM DISPENSING IT, INCLUDING WHINY LITTLE SAMURAI! YOU WILL GET YOUR GOD DAMNED ARMOR PLATED ASSES OUTSIDE THE BARRACKS THIS INSTANT, BEFORE I COME IN THERE AND PULL YOU OUT BY THEM!"

Moments later, Rowen, Ryo, Anubis, Kale, and Dais filed out of the house.

"Where have you guys been? Mom's been trying to call you for the past hour!" Ran shouted.  
"But we never heard the phone ring." Rowen answered. "There was some strange ring coming from the upstairs bathroom though."  
"Then why didn't you go and investigate?" Navcase asked.  
"We couldn't. Everyone else in the house is in there puking away." Ryo answered.  
"Oh." Navcase answered.  
"Will you all cut the chatter, there is combat to be taken care of! You with the big giant cannons, Spider Boy, and the dumbass with the giant sword, climb on and let's move out! Flame boy and Carrot top can fly there!" I.J. ordered.  
"Who died and made him in charge?" Kale whispered to the others.  
"What did you say maggot?" I.J. asked. "Answer me or drop down and give me 500!"  
"I said, what are we waiting for, CHARGE!" Kale lied.  
"I like your style Maggot! Let's drop the hammer and Roll out!" I.J. shouted as he took to the road again, alternating between singing more Jodie's (forcing the others to sing along with him or be subjected to insane numbers of pushups), and "Ride of the Valkyries."

Meanwhile, back in the city, Jata had separated his platoons into their respective squads and had them fan out in an attempt to box in the cloaked figure. One group bounded along like rocket troops minus the rockets, searching for their target, and scanning around with their weapons, heard the faint sound of I.J's singing as he came up the road.

"Something's up ahead." Rowen said, spotting the Miraju troops.  
"I can see that Maggot!" I.J. said, rolling to a stop. "ALL RIGHT MAGGOTS! I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU WORK FOR, BUT I SUGGEST YOU MOVE OUT OF MY WAY BEFORE I DO IT FOR YOU!" I.J. bellowed once again.

The Junior NCO in charge of the squad raised his arm and pointed at I.J., as the troops began to open fire on the heroes.

"Jesus H. Christ! How dare you open fire on my military greatness! It's on now! All right maggots, fire at will! SUCK THIS DOWN!" I.J boomed, firing off a blast from his main gun as the Miraju put up a barrier to defend against it.  
"Damn! They've put up a barrier! Now what?" Rowen asked.  
"We're going to have to find a way through! KAI..." Rowen began.  
"No! You can't call down the power now! It will be devastating to the city, and they'll probably put up shields again! We must break through some other way!" Navcase answered, summoning his own armor.  
"What do you suggest?" Rowen asked.  
"For starters, this! Kale, follow my lead!" Navcase shouted, removing his sword from the large sheath on his shoulder guard.  
"Kuzu Ryu Sen!" he declared, shooting like a bullet at the Miraju, knocking them down despite their shields, as Kale barreled into them as well. The two landed and turned around ready for more as they prepared to charge again, only to be tossed back by an invisible force. The Junior NCO then began firing his harnessed particle beam gun at the two, as they ducked for cover. Several troops were quickly cut down by the Brownings manned by Anubis and Ryo, but there were still more where that came from. Ran came down from the turret and began firing her plasma cannon, as well as cutting troops down with her beam blade, and then in came Yuri as she punched some hard with her Knuckle Bomber and cut down others with the Crown of Thorns railgun. The Junior NCO was soon cornered as he brought out an unusual rifle and loaded it with a shell and fired it into the air. It exploded as a mini electrical storm started up and began striking at the heroes, as he attempted to make an escape in the meantime, but was caught by Ran's garrote wire, tripping him as Yuri flew over and lifted him with one arm into the air, ready to punch his lights out with her knuckle bomber.

"Okay, who or what are you and what are you up to? I want some answers, asshole!" Yuri asked.

The Junior NCO answered in an odd language that not even the She-Ronin could understand, before kicking himself free of Yuri and flying off in the opposite direction. A very pissed off pair of Yuri and I.J. began firing after him, but he managed to get away from them.

"DAMN! Now those things know we're here, and we still don't know why THEY'RE here." Yuri shouted.  
"Calm down, Miss Yuri. We should concentrate on trying to find the cloaked figure before they do. I am sure that he will have the answers we're looking for." Navcase answered.

The group disembarked from I.J. and proceeded onward to find the cloaked figure, because whomever he or possibly she was, he or she was extremely important to these creatures.

The group proceeded through the city on their armored loudmouth, attempting to find the mysterious figure that these things; whatever or whomever they were; were so interested in. He had certainly been of help in taking down Drakka, however they had no idea of intentions; for all they knew, Drakka was simply a lesser evil that a greater evil needed out of the way for one reason or another. But on the other hand, this stranger could be their ticket to identifying where Sakura and the others disappeared to.

*"Yuri, we're picking something on bio-scan, not far from you." a technician from Osaki announced.  
"Any idea what it is?" Yuri asked.  
"Not sure, but their mystical energies are up there, but nowhere near you or Ran."  
"What about one of us?" Navcase asked.  
"So far, you guys are the most significant contact we've got. Aside from something else. It's got Rei and lots of it."  
"That must be what they're looking for. Where is it?" Yuri asked.  
"Several blocks south of your location. Unfortunately there are two groups headed its way."  
"Who's closer?" Yuri asked.  
"At the moment, them."  
"Then we'll just need to change that. I.J., put it in gear and take the next left. We've got to get there before they do."  
"The three of us will fly on ahead and keep you posted." Navcase said, as he took to the air with Ryo and Anubis.

Meanwhile, Platoon Leader Jata and his squads were still on the lookout. This was the target that would bring Asterra complete immortality and Jata fame and fortune. They might even make him Supreme Mage Lord for this.

"Have you found anything yet?" Jata asked his Senior NCO, who was in charge of the other two squads, including the one that had made contact with Amaterasu's group.

*"No sir. However Squad C did encounter some resistance. Fire was exchanged, but no casualties on either side."  
"What info can you give us on the hostiles?"  
"Some sort of loudmouthed land assault vehicle, two female warriors in armor, three with no armor, but significant energy readings on all three. There were also others in armor, manning the guns. Minimal energy readings on them."  
"Hoen?"  
"Negative sir. The level of tech they possessed was nowhere near that of the Hoen military forces. I doubt they even know what a nanite is."  
"Understood. Tell them to continue recon. I do not want them anywhere near the target." Jata commanded.  
"Affirmative sir."

The Amaterasu group proceeded southward, following their directions towards the large energy source. Hopefully, they would intercept it before the others did.

"Yuri, stand by. I see something up ahead." Ryo reported.  
"What is it?" Yuri asked.  
"More of those strange warriors. Looks like about two squads. There's some weird robed guy with them. Seems to be in charge."  
"What kind of weapons are they carrying?" Yuri asked.  
"Same as before, more of those rifles, two of them have some sort of harnessed railguns. What should we do?"  
"Hang on until we get there. Those guys could be trouble with a full fledged officer nearby."

Energy bolts began to fly from the enemy weapons, as Ryo and the others swerved for cover. A Junior NCO ordered his three troops to take up sniping positions near some parked cars and began concentrating their fire on Ryo, Anubis, and Navcase as they dodged the best they could. The Junior NCO shouted something to his troops, and they fired a different blast, which struck Anubis, sending him to the ground in convulsions. Navcase landed as Ryo began to fling fireballs at the sniper positions, as Navcase threw off his cape and charged forward, heading for the robed figure near the rear, dodging blaster fire from the sharpshooters.

"Looks like Ryo started early." Yuri said as they pulled up.  
"I HOPE THAT FLAME-WINGED MAGGOT SAVED ME SOME TARGETS!" I.J. shouted.

"Yuri, looks like we have sharpshooters set up. Care to give them some trouble?" Dais said.  
"I'd be happy to! Grab onto something, this should shake them up!" I.J. shouted as he rotated his main gun at the first of the sniper points and fired away, as another barrier came up to defend, barely shaking off the attack.

"Damn those shields! I'm deploying!"  
"Negative. You do that, and half the block goes with them. Give us some cover and I'll try to crack their shield." Yuri reported as she shot skyward, flipped over forward several times and came crashing down on top of one of the shielded troops, somehow cracking through it with her Knuckle Bomber and knocking him to the ground with a small crater. Dais was struck in the back, as he turned around to see another squad of troops coming up behind them.  
"Ran, we need some firepower back here!" Dais shouted.  
"Not a problem." Ran called back, tossing some strange pods into the ground that deployed into turrets which proceeded to fire back the other way, holding off the advancing rear troops. The Junior NCO's were firing their railguns and ducking for cover, as Kale and Dais returned fire with the Brownings, as Navcase fought his way through the troops protecting the leader and came crashing down with Ryu Tsui Sen, which was blocked by a shorter runesword. Jata however, was not as good a swordsman as Navcase and upon being pushed back, pulled out his pistol and began shooting lightning bolts at the Sword of Heaven as Navcase drove his sword into the ground and put up his shield. Navcase kicked off into Kuzu Ryu Sen as a force blast came flying from the pistol, knocking the hero back into a nearby wall. The others still had their own problems as energy bolts and bullets flew back and forth between the two sides. Navcase still had his hands full as Jata sheathed his sword and began chanting in some alien language, as a full fledged fireball began streaking towards the hero. Navcase barely had time to react as he shut his eyes tight and thrust his sword downward as fast as he could, waiting for the intense heat to strike, but it never did. He slowly opened his eyes to find a flaming barrier of some sort in front of him, and in between that and him, the robed figure. Jata began shouting something in an alien tongue at the figure, about the only words that Navcase managed to pick up on were "Hoen", "Rajei", and "Asterra", probably names of some sort, of what, Navcase had no clue.

"At last I have found you, Rajei, Champion of the Hoen. Lord Asterra will be pleased.>" Jata replied.  
"Enjoy while you can, because you won't have found me much longer."  
"GET HIM!!!!>" Jata shouted as his troops charged the stranger, as he brought out his staff and proceeded to beat down the various troops in rapid succession.  
"Looks like the Miraju military hasn't been training hard enough.>"  
"Those fools are mere infantry compared to me, a full fledged Mage Officer. Now, come get me.">  
"INFERNO SWORD OF FIDES!!!!"> Rajei shouted, as he placed his hands in front of him as a fiery vortex opened and he pulled out a large red and orange sword with a flame styling. Jata's efforts to fight back were nil as Rajei overpowered him and knocked him back. The sword vanished as Rajei brought out his staff again.  
"Give up?>" Rajei asked.

Jata's answer was not what Rajei expected, as he began to chant something. Although the language was alien, the intonation of the words clicked in Ran's head.

"He's casting a Dragon Slave!" Ran shouted. "We need to get out of here, fast!"  
"What? Mage Officers aren't even allowed to cast that spell, only the High Mage Lords I thought were qualified enough to cast the spell without permission." Rajei thought to himself.

Rajei began weaving an flaming energy field of some sort as a huge energy bolt began getting larger and larger in front of Jata as energy gathered into it and his troops gathered behind him.  
The blast went off and slammed straight into the shield, which scattered the energy harmlessly away. In anger Jata charged Rajei, who quickly whacked Jata upside the head and took him down, as he dropped his sword and his troops dragged him away.

"What was all that about?" Ran asked.  
"I will explain everything in time. For now, return to your home." Rajei answered.  
"You speak Japanese?" Navcase asked.  
"Yes, among other things. But if it is answers you are seeking, they will have to wait. The other squad is around here somewhere and I must get to someplace safe. Farewell, and thank you for your help. Oh yes, one more thing. This is for you." He answered, handing Jata's sword to Navcase. "Not many can stand up to a Miraju Mage Officer and live to tell about it. It is disappointing though, that you had to face someone of his expertise."

Red wings emerged from Rajei's back, as he soared into the sky and off in the distance.

"Let's get home." Yuri said, as I.J. turned around and headed back towards Mia's after grabbing an unconscious Anubis.

The Wings of Darkness awoke to find his comrades hovering over him, including the now un-hungover group.

"What happened...the last thing I remember was getting hit by some weird blast and then passing out. How long was I out for?"  
"About two hours." Mia said. "You were practically comatose. In fact, you were comatose. You'd probably be in line at King Yama's right now if you weren't a Seishi." Mia explained.  
"So, what did I miss?" he asked.  
"Lots of gunfire, a minor duel between their leader and Navcase, but no answers as to what was going on. However, we think that the robed stranger's name is Rajei, judging from their exchange. The only other words Navcase managed to make out were 'Miraju" and 'Hoen'. No clue as to who or what they are, but I'm sure that Rajei guy knows. That, and Suzaki hasn't returned yet. He's been gone most of the day."

At that moment, Mr. Fawkes came straggling in, with a torn shirt and dried up bloodstains.

"Suzaki, what happened to you?" Mia asked.  
"I was walking along and some people jumped me. They beat me down and took most of my jewels." He answered.  
"In Toyama?"  
"It is unusual for this to happen around here?"  
"Yes. In fact, it actually happening would be unusual. I knew something was odd about you the moment you walked in! Why else would Navcase been practically knocked off his feet when he met you? I have a pretty good idea of who you are Suzaki Fawkes...or should I say, RAJEI?" Anubis shouted.  
"Anubis! What has gotten into you?" Mia shouted. "Suzaki, excuse his rudeness."  
"No, it's all right Mia. I haven't been totally honest about my presence here."  
"What do you mean, you haven't been completely honest?" Mia asked.  
"Perhaps this will help to clear things up." Suzaki said, as he was enveloped in flaming energy that engulfed his body. When it cleared, a new form was standing before them, with long red and orange hair, adorned with various beads, wearing Romanesque battle armor with fancy laced gauntlets on the forearms and forelegs. A pair of red wings had sprouted from his back. A fiery aura continued to surround him as he announced himself.

"My name is Rajei, champion of the Hoen people, and the right wing of Suzaku. I have come to Earth in an effort to escape the Miraju, a race of aliens bent on cracking the secret of my longevity for their master, the cruel Asterra. I have come to ask for your help in defeating this menace, lest your world face the same fate as mine."

Anubis and the others stood in shock as to what had been witnessed and said as a loud thump was heard as Mia fell to the floor.

**Twilight and Fire have made their presence known...**

NEXT EPISODE:

ANUBIS: I knew it! I knew it all along!

RYO: You mean you knew the whole time that Suzaki was an alien from another planet hiding here on Earth so he wouldn't be captured?

ANUBIS: No. But I knew something was odd about him!

RYO: ::sighs:: Well, at last, we get some answers about all that's been going on.

ROWEN: Only the surface is scratched however, as there is more than meets the eye about our newest foe.

RAJEI: Join us next time on Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; Adversaries from the Twilight. Don't miss it!

SUIREN AND YOKO: HE'S AN ALIEN BISHIE!!!! HE'S EVEN COOLER THAN BEFORE!!!!

RAJEI: Perhaps I should look for another planet to hide on...


	5. Adversaries from the Twilight

Dragged by his troops, Platoon Leader Jata was brought back to the Miraju camp, where he was greeted by Company Commander Niru and Mage Lord Ramito.

"What am I to do with you, Platoon Leader Jata? Not only have you disobeyed orders to stay put and guard the base, but you also failed to capture the target while you were AWOL. Had you managed to accomplish something of importance during your disappearance, perhaps we would have been more lenient. But you have not, and per Lord Ramito's suggestion, you will be thrown in the brig until further notice and your platoon placed under my personal command. For your sake, I hope to Asterra that your forces are not as corrupted as you are."

Jata felt a shock through his system as the psychic soldier on hand struck him with bio-manipulation, paralyzing his limbs as a collar was placed on him to dampen his psychic abilities. More troops dragged him off with the aid of telekinesis as Lord Ramito and Niru saluted the form of High Lord Ayosuf.

"How are things proceeding on Earth, Lord Ramito?"  
"We are currently on schedule High Lord, despite problems with Platoon Leader Jata. He has been dealt with. At the moment, we are still attempting to locate the target. Platoon Leader Jata almost had him, but he managed to get away, with help from beings on this planet."  
"Are these orders too complex for you, Lord Ramito? Or should I assign another battallion commander to this task?"  
"No High Lord. I am confident the soldiers under my command can handle it. Humans are a primitive species at best. Their technology is limited, and their mystical capabilities are null. I doubt they can perform a simple cantrip."  
"Correct me if I was wrong Lord Ramito, but was this not what you said before your battalion was deployed on Suanapolla?"  
"I assure you sir, the circumstances are different this time." Ramito answered.  
"They had better be, Lord Ramito. They had better be." High Lord Ayosuf answered.

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 5: Adversaries from the Twilight.**

"So, let me get this straight. You're not some wandering guy looking for a place to stay, and you're really an alien being trying to escape capture from some other aliens that apparently want you so they can make their leader live longer. That about cover it?" Rowen asked.  
"Yes, that's the gist of it." Rajei explained.  
"So, what can we do to help?" Rowen asked.  
"Help me to stop the Miraju. We must not allow them to get their hands on me or your planet. Your world should not have to face the same fate as Suanapolla." Rajei said.  
"Suanapolla?" Anubis asked  
"Yes, the Hoen homeworld. The planet was earmarked by the Miraju for my people's longevity, but were unable to learn anything from experimentation on us. Once they discovered the legends about me, Asterra concluded that the secrets must lie within me."  
"Stupid question time, who or what is Asterra and why does he want whatever you have?" Kento asked.  
"Asterra is a powerful biowizard construct developed by the Miraju as a means to protect their heads of state. Unfortunately for their sake, he organized a coup against the very people he was sworn to protect, and now rules over them with an iron fist."  
"Perhaps it would be in our best interest Rajei, for you to explain what else these Miraju as you call them, could quite possibly throw our way." Dais asked.  
"In addition to their standard infantry, which you have already faced, with their rifles capable of firing either strong mind bolts or paralysis blasts, are further equipped with psi enhancing body armor."  
"Lovely. Not only are they psychotic, they're psionic as well." Sai added.  
"Aside from their infantry, there are also several races that serve them, most notably the Demetarians, Space Elves, and Uranari."  
"And these people would be?" Kento asked, being stupid yet at the same time picking apart Rajei's way of talking about these things as if Kento and the others knew exactly what he was talking about.  
"The Demetarians are a race of plant people that the Miraju managed to recruit, both for their supreme powers and terraforming skills. The Space Elves, for lack of a more accurate term, are tree dwellers, with unsurpassed archery skills. Finally, the Uranari are physically weak people, who saw an alliance with the Miraju would make them stronger, through both bio-wizardry and bionic enhancement. But by far the nastiest of the Miraju's soldiers are their Heavy Borgs, four legged monstrosities equipped with gatlings, missile launchers, a particle cannon and a mortar cannon. Very tough to bring down. Even with my own Rei Iru, it was still a difficult fight."  
"Here he goes again with things we don't understand." Kento said.  
"In ancient times, the Hoen were masters of elemental magic centered around the energy of their souls. It was their belief that every being was born with a a particular element ingrained into their Rei energy that they could call upon. However, since my sealing away in a temple, the Hoen have lost their magic and have grown into a technological empire."  
"I don't think you've really told us who the Hoen are. You've told us much about them, but haven't really defined them, so to speak." Anubis said.  
"At the very basic level, the Hoen are an alien race descendant from a phoenix. This has granted them exceptional healing capabilities and an immunity to fire and heat. The race also goes through an unusual life cycle; as they reach certain points in their life they spontaneously combust and reassemble themselves in a new, older form. I was created by their god and placed in a temple, only to be released in their hour of need. I spent eons in there, training, waiting for the day I was needed to defend my people. At last, that day came, and I fought the Miraju with a very different Hoen people, however, deep within them, their phoenix souls still burned bright."  
"So, now what?" Kento asked.  
"Well, at the moment, the Miraju don't know where Rajei is, but on the other edge of the blade, we don't know where their base is." Rowen commented.  
"I know where their base is." Rajei answered.  
"All right, I stand corrected. We do know where their base is. But it's probably a bad idea to go blasting our way in there, since they're probably well established and it would not be pretty, even with the other Seishi backing us up along with the rest of our firepower."  
"What about the Kusanagi?" Ryo asked.  
"Kinjiro's people are still getting it ready. Besides, I think that would be more firepower than we need." Rowen answered.  
"What is this Kusanagi you speak of?" Rajei asked.  
"It's a large battleship we captured a while back. Our only real problem with it is we have no crew for it. Until we can fix that problem and find someone who's either really qualified or really adventurous to captain it, we're at an impasse." Rowen replied.  
"That ship might be of use in the future, but for now we must figure out what to do about the Miraju threat." Rajei answered.

The sound of tires screeching was heard outside the house as Kento rushed to the window to see what it was.

"Um, Rajei, I think you have a more immediate threat than those Miraju."  
"What makes you say that?" Rajei asked.  
"Suiren and Yoko just got here." Kento answered.  
"Oh no. They haven't seen my in my true form. Their reaction to my disguise was somewhat off the charts, I can't even begin to fathom how they'll react to my true self. Quick, hide me!"

Efforts were made to attempt to make the Hoen champion scarce as in burst Suiren and Yoko.

"WHERE'S THE BISHOUNEN!?" the two shouted in unison.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about Suiren." Kento replied.  
"You can't deny it, there is a super bishounen or biseinen in this house right now!" Suiren insisted.  
"Suiren, the only pretty boy or pretty man in this house right now is Mr. Fawkes and you already met him." Sage answered.  
"No, no! This guy knocks Mr. Fawkes out of the stratosphere!" Yoko chimed in.  
"I didn't even think there were bishounen or biseien like that." Sai answered. "But like we said the only on here is Mr. Fawkes and you already know him."  
"Okay...but we'll still be suspicious!" Suiren replied, mostly taking the hint and leaving with Yoko.

"That was a close one." Ryo answered, bringing Rajei out of hiding, at least for the time being.

"We've got to hide him somewhere else, where he's safe from the Miraju AND those two." Sage concluded.  
"Does such a place exist?" Sai asked.  
"Maybe we could hide him at Kinjiro's." Kale suggested.  
"Kale! That's brilliant!" Anubis exclaimed.  
"It is?" Kale asked.  
"Yes! It's secure enough to keep Rajei safe from the Miraju and it's the last place Suiren and Yoko would think to go to look for him." Anubis explained.  
"Odd, because my backup idea was to hide him in a mall." Kale answered, forcing the group to facefault or contemplate wringing Kale's neck.

Under the cover of sunlight(Rajei suggested that dealing with actual day and night would force the Miraju to be nocturnal unfortunately that would also be when they were most powerful.) the heroes clambered into Mia's jeep and drove Rajei over to Osaki Defensive Technologies. They asked to speak with Ms. Jishou once they got in.

"So you need me to hide this guy? I can see why. Not only is he a supreme security issue, he's also a major hunk. I would be happy to keep him here until we can figure out what to do about these Miraju people." Ms. Jishou replied.  
"I would be glad to fill you in on the Miraju's capabilities, so perhaps effective countermeasures can be developed to stop them."

Back at the Miraju camp, plans were being made to attack once again. This time around, things would be up to Mage Officer Sura. Under his command were solely Minion races under the Miraju Empire, one platoon of Demetarians, the powerful plant people, a platoon comprised of Space Elves, one of Light Uranari Borgs, and one of Uranari Bio-Borgs. Sura's company of spryess, ugliness, shrubbery and clanking metal emerged from their respective buildings and fell in before Sura.

"All right, to most, you are merely second class soldiers, meant to be cannon fodder more than decorated heroes. But to me, you are the finest troops I have ever been honored with the privilege to command. Together, we will find the target and make a name for ourselves. Our names will echo through the annals of Miraju lore. Now, let's move out!" Sura commanded, as his troops marched off to battle.

"This fortress is amazing!" Rajei said as he was taken on a semi-guided tour of Osaki's facilities.  
"We prefer the term factory, actually. If you want to see a fortress we can take you over to Otoantou."  
"Otoantou?" Rajei asked.  
"Sort of our rival. Builds everything including the kitchen sink and is researching the bathtub. However, he's pretty much out of his mind, and by some bizarre twist of fate, out of this world at the moment, so they won't be bothering us at the moment. But hopefully here we have enough defensive tech to keep the Miraju out." Ms. Jishou answered.

Meanwhile, people dodged for their lives as Sura's company made their way into Toyama, attempting to locate their target.

"Sir, how do you plan to locate the target?" one of the Uranari light borgs asked.  
"Quite simply, a being such as the Hoen champion gives off a tremendous amount of magical energy. With this planet having such scarce energies magically, we should have no trouble locating the champion if he is nearby."

Sura reached under his robes and pulled out some sort of strange techno-wizard tracking device, almost like a magic compass. The needle pointed straight towards the largest magical presence around it.

"This way!" Sura shouted, pointing his hand as the other troops hurried after him.

Back at Osaki, the escorts had just about gotten Rajei settled in when a technician came running into the room.  
"Ms. Jishou, we have a problem. Possible enemy forces approaching the facility."  
"All right. Get the AI's ready to move out and energize the FireStorm wall. That will hold them for a while." Ms. Jishou ordered.

"They seem to have put up defenses sir." One of the elves answered.  
"Unfortunate, for them. Demetarians, begin charging! Uranari, open fire on that barrier! They can't keep it up forever!"

Railgun slugs began spewing out of the Uranari weapons as the Demetarians began to glow golder and golder. Sura did his own part by attacking with projectile-based spells.

"Ma'am, the wall is holding, but the power will be out soon!" one of the technicians reported.

The FireStorm wall cut off as the AI bots were wiped out in a golden beam of destruction. The bio-borgs and metal borgs made short work of the remaining units as they stormed their way in weapons blazing.

"We can't let them get Rajei. Let's go!" Rowen shouted, as he and the other Ronin donned their Mecha Armor and charged out to do battle.

"Okay guys, let's be careful. We don't yet know what these guys are capable of." Rowen said.

Kento, most likely ignoring Rowen's warning, went straight at a bio-borg, and was soon dodging attempts to be stung by their tails and thrusts from their knees and shoulders, which had spikes. He drove his staff into its chest and flipped it over forward, dodging the flailing tail.

"Good work Kento." Rowen called back as he blasted a Uranari Light Borg with his rifle.

Sura shouted to the elves to find spots to take the others out with arrows, as Osaki security forces made their way outside and returned fire.

"Stop them!>" Sura shouted to the Demetarians, who obliged by tossing seeds at the security force, many of whom were engulfed in weeds and passed out.

"Great. Four different kinds of troops, lots of them, and their commander seems to know what he's doing as opposed to the last guy. But we still can't let them get Rajei." Rowen thought to himself.

Sai was suddenly knocked back as a few of the bio borgs let loose with a blast of flame from their mouths.

"Great, these guys breathe fire too!?" Rowen shouted in disbelief.

Sage was entangled in some vines which shot out like wires from the Demetarians, as others proceeded to throw leaves at him, which quite unusually, cut gashes into his armor, but luckily some bad aim from some of them managed to cut him free.

"Time for a little payback." Sage said, readying his sword.

"THUNDER...BOLT...CUT!!!!" he shouted, sending a blast of white hot light screaming at the Demetarians, which they simply absorbed.

"Of course, light would help them out. How are we supposed to stop these guys?" Sage wondered.

"We're probably going to need some more help on this one." Sai suggested as he sprayed several bio-borgs with shots from his weapon.

Rowen and the others backpedaled returning fire behind a pair of doors as plasma ejector blasts and railgun slugs slammed into it along with leaves and arrows.

"Sai may be right. Even with all our mecha weaponry, these guys don't want to give up. I don't think they're going to stop until Rajei's in their possession." Rowen concluded.  
"What about the cannons?" Sage asked.  
"Too dangerous to fire in such closed space." Rowen explained.  
"We're going to need the others." Sage said.  
"Ms. Jishou, can you call Mia's and tell Ryo, Anubis and the Warlords to hurry over?" Rowen asked.  
"Not a problem. I'll get right on it."  
"Okay guys, let's go get them." Rowen replied.

The Ronin charged out again, unloading everything they could at the invading forces, who threw everything they could back at the heroes. The Demetarians stopped their firing and held their arms skyward once again as they began to glow gold.

"Great Rowen. They've got no problems hitting us with a death ray, so maybe we should try and counter it with our own." Kento suggested.  
"Fine." Rowen answered, unfolding his heavier weapons. "KAI..."

Suddenly, bolts of fire rained down on the charging Demetarians, causing them to burst into the flame and run around like decapitated chickens!

"How 'bout a little fire, plant boys?" Ryo asked, sending more flame raining down on them.

"Got here just in time." Rowen replied.

"BLACK...LIGHTNING...SLASH!!!!!" Kale shouted, sending lighting bolts screaming into Uranari Light Borgs, blowing them sky high.

Sekhmet touched down, and quickly unsheathed his swords, placing them in front of him, and sent his bladed whip snapping into the bio-borgs, slicing several cleanly in half. Anubis charged towards Sura, scythe at the ready, as he cut down all in his path, left and right as he made his way for their leader. Sura went for his pistol and fired lightning bolts back at him, but Anubis dodged and got close enough to knock it away, forcing him to go for his sword and parry like crazy as Anubis attacked relentlessly with swipes from his blade.

The Ronin and other Warlords continued to keep Sura's troops busy as Anubis continued to wail on Sura himself. Anubis got in a good hit, which knocked Sura's sword away, as Dais took the opportunity to wrap him up in his chains.

"Now talk!" Anubis answered. "Where's the rest of your force? How large is it? How many of your kind are part of this invasion force?" Anubis fired off questions as fast as he could think of them, but it was nothing more than mumbo jumbo to Sura.

"Anubis, maybe it would be a good idea to have Rajei interrogate him." Rowen suggested. "Just a thought."

Rajei came out from within the compound and proceeded to ask the same questions.

"So? What did you find out?" Rowen asked.  
"He is called Mage Officer Sura, and explained in a few choice words that he's not talking."  
"Great. Now what do we do?" Kento asked.  
"We could torture him." Sekhmet suggested.  
"We could put a tracer on him and hope he leads us back to his camp." Sai suggested.  
"Highly unlikely." Anubis said.  
"So then what do we do with this guy?" Sage asked.  
"We could lock him up here." Kale suggested.  
"His buddies would track him to our location and bust him out." Ryo said.  
"So then what are we supposed to do then?" Sai asked.  
"Well, we could hold him and his guys and hope their friends come to rescue them. With any luck we could end up with a bigger prize than him." Ryo suggested.

So it was settled. Sura and his remaining troops were secured elsewhere in the facility, and preparations were made for the inevitable jailbreak the Miraju were going to make.

Back at the Miraju camp, word spread fast that Sura and his company were now prisoners of the enemy.

"This assault is not going as planned, High Lord. Jata has already disobeyed orders and is being redisciplined, and Sura and the remainder of his forces are now in enemy custody. Furthermore, the very being we seek to capture for Asterra is also in the same location, most likely briefing those fools as we speak! We will need a full fledged miracle if we hope to stop them in their tracks!"  
"Worry not, Ramito. These puny humans will not trouble you for long. I will contact the Supreme Lord himself and request the aid of the Dark Rounin to acquire the target." High Lord Ayosuf replied.  
"The Dark Rounin?!" Ramito gasped in disbelief. "Are you sure THEY are needed? With all due respect sir, they must be halfway across the universe right now!" Ramito said.  
"They are closer than you think, aboard Asterra's own flagship. It will not take them long to reach Earth."  
"What shall I do until they arrive?" Ramito asked.  
"Prepare your shock troops for immediate departure. Your shock troopers will keep the humans distracted while the Dark Rounin break into the facility on their own and grab the target."  
"I understand, High Lord Ayosuf."  
"Good. I will leave you to your preparations. Good luck."

Somewhere in the asteroid belt, the imposing sight of Asterra's own flagship was hidden well behind the M field it generated. Announcements were made throughout the ship that the Dark Rounin should prepare for launch.

Support personnel rushed through the corridors to the hangar, going over a jet black shuttle ship with finer and finer teethed combs as a last six individuals slowly entered the hangar. They were rendered courtesies as they climbed aboard their ship.

"Are we ready to launch Illandere?" one said, who seemed to be in charge.  
"All systems go. Everybody hang on tight."

The hangar doors opened out of the nothingness of space, as their ship slowly floated out of the hangar, fired up its engines, and headed for Earth.

**Evil approaches...**

NEXT EPISODE:

RYO: Dark Rounin? How can these guys be ronin if they have a master?

RAJEI: The word "ronin" has a different connotation in the Miraju language. My sources inform me that it refers to a vicious creature that inhabits their homeworld that stalks the darkest areas of Sirajadeen and plagued them for years until they had advanced enough to wipe the majority out.

ROWEN: Not to violate the fourth wall or anything, but shouldn't we not know about the Dark Rounin coming in the next episode?

RAJEI: True, but this is an episode preview. It doesn't count.

::two men in black suits walk in on the Ronin, zap them with a red light, and leave::

RYO: What just happened? Rajei, were you talking about something?

RAJEI: Yes, I was about to give the next episode title. Ronin Warriors: Ilusionary War; Infiltration of Osaki. Do not miss it.


	6. Infiltration of Osaki

The sun shone brightly over Osaki Defensive Industries, but most of the action was within the building however. Certain were the Ronin and the Amaterasu Seishi that the Miraju would come to spring their prisoner, the Mage Officer Sura, that extra security had been brought in, hallways sandbagged, and weapons readied left and right. The Miraju would come; Probably that night, armed to the teeth. Perhaps they would even bring the fearful Heavy Borgs that Rajei had mentioned. But they had to be ready. If Sai was right, almost using Sura as bait could allow them a chance to nab an even more important Miraju, who they could then question and hopefully gain more information. But only time and nightfall would tell.

Back at the Miraju camp, as the majority rested up for their campaign that night, the Heavy borgs came out of their standby mode and began making their way towards the entrance to the camp. Mage Officers Daara and Rajika would handle this growing problem. Furthermore, with the Dark Rounin on their way, there would be no stopping them this time.

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 6: Infiltration of Osaki**.

At dusk, as the last bit of sun dropped behind the western sky, the Miraju base sprung to life once again. The barracks opened as dozens of Miraju infantry filed out and prepared to move out to Osaki. They snapped to attention as Rajika and Daara came out to survey their troops. Satisfied, they announced that it was time to move out. Infantry took to the air, as Heavy borgs and Bio Borgs made their way forward towards Sura's release, and hopefully, victory.

Back at Osaki, the heroes were on the lookout for anything the Miraju could possibly be throwing at them. On the rooftop, Rowen paced nervously in his armor, knowing full well that the Miraju could be there any minute. The moon shone bright and full in the sky, a good thing for any Miraju, but a bad thing for anyone who was not. Looking out in the distance, floating specks started to show in the night sky. Zooming in with his scanners, Rowen's fears were confirmed; the Miraju were here.

*"They're coming!" Rowen shouted into his com-link, as he deployed his special equipment and let fire with a satellite cannon blast. However, the specks quickly scattered as the blast tore right through where they had been. Rowen let fire with a second shot, which did not have much better results as they once again scattered and proceeded closer and closer. A loud report came from I. J. as he fired at them as well, not doing much better than Rowen in causing any damage.

*"Jesus H. Christ! What's it gonna take to put a dent in these maggots?"  
*"We're probably going to have to let them get closer before most of our firepower will have any major effect." Rowen explained. "On the other hand, if we give them nowhere to dodge to, we can line them up for a straight shot!"  
The various Buster AI's began firing their long range cannons at the approaching Miraju infantry as Rowen tried desperately to get them boxed into the path of his cannons. That was before he had to dodge a stinger from one of the Bio-Borgs! Retracting his firepower and going for his beam sabers, he looked down to see even more Bio-Borgs attacking the pinned down Defender AI's and other forces as they let loose with dragon breath, and acidic attacks.

"How did those things get here so quickly?" Rowen wondered as he managed to dodge once again and drive his blade into the monster.  
*"The flying troops must have been nothing more than a diversion while the Bio-borgs hurried into attack range!" Anubis suggested. "Like it or not, they're here now, so we must carve a path of destruction!"

With the three remaining Dark Warlords, Anubis charged out into the fray, cutting many down with quick slices of his beam scythe. Kale followed up with his beam sword, taking down many in one cut thanks to its adjustable blade. The four struck and dodged the best they could, as the monsters continued to force their way in. The Buster and Duel AI's were far from a match for them as the androids were torn to shreds in a matter of minutes. Psionic blasts were quite effective as the infantry finally arrived and began using the fallen mechs as cover to take aim at the heroes, who returned fire the best they could.

"Oh this is fun!" Sai shouted sarcastically as he fired his gun back at the dug in Miraju infantry as the group was forced back inside.

"Ryo, Rowen, Anubis, do any of you have any bright ideas? Because this isn't going so well!" Kento asked.  
"Is everyone back inside?" Rowen asked one of the security people.  
"Yes." he replied.  
"What are you thinking Rowen? They're just going to push us further and further back until they're right on top of us!" Kento shouted.  
*"Okay Ran, you can activate the turrets now." Rowen replied.

From behind various debris the cannons materialized, and no sooner did did they appear than did they proceed to mow down the hapless and dug in Miraju forces! The soldiers scrambled to find better cover as the strategically placed turrets shredded through infantry and had significant stopping power enough to fend off the Bio-Borgs before they could get close enough to them to do any real damage.  
"Look at them run! They can't take it!" Kento shouted.

That was several seconds before a series of heavy energy blasts took out the outer walls and turrets one by one as strange multi-legged contraptions with a cannon for one arm, a humanoid torso, and what looked like a mortar cannon across their backs slowly but surely worked their way into the base amongst Miraju shouts.

"Rajei, what in the world are those things?" Sai asked.  
"Those, Sai, are the worst thing the Miraju have. When a soldier falls in battle and suffers damage that is beyond repair, their soul is placed in the body of one of those things. It would be somewhat wise to consider releasing Sura." Rajei explained.  
"Not a chance. If they get their hands on you, who knows what will become of your home-world, ours, and heaven knows where else. We've got to get Rajei out of here, and fast. Kale, Dais, take Rajei and sneak him out the back. The rest of us will hold off the Miraju as long as possible." Rowen explained. "Kento, Sai, and Navcase, guard Sura and his troop's cell. You're the last thing standing between them and their little rescue operation. The rest of you, come with me." Rowen said, grabbing his rifle as the mecha armored heroes and charged out to do battle once more. Surien fired several charged shots at the Heavy Borgs, but their armor was thick, as to be expected. Yuri charged at one, dodging CWIS from its Gatling as she went skyward and attempted to crash down, only to be forced out of it as it attempted to cut her down with its beam blade!

"Geez, these guys didn't hold back when they built those things!" Yuri exclaimed. "Suck S-Mine!" She shouted, firing a small device that stuck to one, causing it to explode in a tornado seconds later, only to dodge more shots from the slow moving but hard hitting mechanized menaces.

"What's it going to take to stop all this?" Yuri asked the others as she brought out her dober gun and let one of the borgs have it, blasting armor plating every which way before it fell over.

"What I don't understand, is why those Mage Officers aren't doing anything!" Kento shouted.

"This is quite an unusual strategy. All they seem to be doing is holding their positions, instead of charging forward and just taking the place." Anubis summarized as he took down a few more Bio-Borgs that had tried to give him an impromptu shot in the neck.  
"Yeah, we know they're here for Rajei, so why don't they just push forward and capture him already?" Ryo asked as his beam swords took down one of the Heavy Borgs.  
"What are they waiting for?" Sai asked as he riddled another Bio-Borg with energy bullets.  
"Whatever it is they're waiting for Torrent, must be what they believe to be their sure victory." Anubis answered.

Miles away, the ominous presence of the Dark Rounin's Kestrel-class ship made it closer and closer to Toyama, and Kinjiro's facility.

"How far to the target?" Alleth asked their pilot.  
"Only a few more miles out. Preliminary scans of the battlefield show that the assault is well underway." Illandere explained.  
"Good. Dema, Pugnare, Tallis, Amaya, get ready for deployment. Illandere, stay here and monitor the ship. We're going in people!"

A telepathic message came through to Rajika and Daara from Lord Ramito.

"The Dark Rounin will be there shortly. I am on my way as well. Attack them with everything you have in the name of Asterra!"

Rajika and Daara nodded, as fireballs and lightning bolts and other magical energies began to bombard the unprepared heroes, who were forced to fall back to better cover.

"Oh sure, NOW they start with the magical bombardment." Kento complained as the group fell back inside.  
"Now what Rowen?" Ryo asked.  
"I'm running low on ideas. You got anything Anubis?"

Before he could answer, Navcase spoke up.

"Allow me to try and defeat their officers with my swordsmanship. If worst comes to worst, then you can blast everything to kingdom come with the beam weapons." Navcase said, stepping outside, the doors closing behind him, everyone watching with anticipation if this would actually work. Ryo and Rowen were ready to bring out their cannons just in case.

"I am the Amaterasu Seishi Navcase!" He declared, although he was quite sure that the Miraju had no idea what he was saying.

"I propose that we settle this confrontation sword to sword!" Navcase said, reaching for his katana in its under-shoulder rack as part of his current armor.

That motion the Miraju seemed to understand, as they drew their own swords and charged him. With a single motion of Battou-Justsu, Navcase managed to block both attacks and force them both back. The two Miraju looked at each other, nodded, and then came at Navcase again, as the Sword of Heaven parried their slashes with little effort.

"Rajei assured me that there were talented swordsmen amongst the Miraju ranks. Perhaps they are higher ranked? Nonetheless, this should have no trouble stopping you. Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu!" Navcase declared as he went airborne. "Ryu Tsui Sen!" he shouted as he came down on top of them, his own weight and gravity increasing the force of the blow. Daara suddenly hit the swordsman with a force bolt from his sword, which sent the hero doubling over in the air, knocking him out of the attack and sending him crashing straight on his back. He dodged quickly as he back-flipped onto his feet after Rajika tried to get him with a lighting bolt. He charged with superior speed, as more magic was sent his way, managing to spin around into a Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji, only to be held back with a round of telekinesis. Navcase tried to follow through with the blow, but it was mostly useless, as he was pushed several feet back as he tried to push forward against their mental will.

"Navcase isn't doing so hot." Ryo observed.  
"Give him a chance, it's not like we've been fighting psychics on a regular basis." Rowen replied.

"I shall not doubt the capabilities of psychics ever again. These two are already giving me a run for my money." Navcase thought to himself. There must be something I can do to resist their attacks. But it is not a demon wind, so the Wind Scar will not work. And I have my doubts that Kuzu Ryu Sen will be able to break through their psionic attack and make contact. Gatousu will probably be no more helpful in breaking through their assault. Perhaps my second sword can help." Navcase thought, bringing out the rune blade Rajei had presented him with. Upon placing it in his hands it glowed with power nowhere as much as it had when Jata had used it. As Kale's sword was known to do, it began to suck the light from its surroundings, creating a field of darkness around Navcase.

"This is new. They can't see me, anymore than I can see them, wait...I am able to see them. If I'm quick, I might be able to get in a hit before they catch on!"

Within the shroud of darkness, the two Mage Officers tried desperately to locate their quarry, but psionic probes were nothing without something to target. Daara barely had any time to react before Navcase came flying in with a Gatousu First Stance attack that struck him in the arm. Reeling in pain, Rajika attempted to get his own attack in, only to be wrapped up by tendrils of darkness that shot out of Navcase's new sword. Navcase swooped around, nailing Rajika with a normal Ryu Kan Sen as he finished his rotation.

"All right Navcase! You showed them!" Rowen shouted.  
"Yes, but did I show them enough?" Navcase asked himself as the ground shook and a large stone creature smashed its way through one of the walls, practically ignoring the Firestorm Wall, as the Vulcan shots bounced off it harmlessly. Atop its left shoulder was Ramito.

"Lord Ramito! It is good to see you. Where are the Dark Rounin? Should they not be here by now?" Daara asked.  
"Their arrival is imminent. For now, we shall annihilate these fools!"

The three commanders and their troops proceeded forward with their assault once again, as Navcase barely dodged a punch from the earth elemental that Ramito had summoned.

"Great, they've got an elemental. Now what?" Yuri asked.  
*"You leave it to me, that's what!" I.J. declared, firing his cannon straight at the approaching monster, sending a shell deep into its body.  
"Jesus H. Christ, that shell should have gone in one end and out the other! How about another one?" I.J. shouted, firing again, embedding yet another slug into the large stone giant.

"Come on guys, we can't let I.J. have all the fun!" Kento shouted as he and the others charged out to face the elemental as well. Yuri leapt into the thing with her Knuckle Bomber set to go, only to be swatted away like an armor plated fly.

"Can't at least one fight with these guys end up easy?" Kento asked as another rock punch was aimed at him.  
"Well, at least Kale and Dais got Rajei out." Rowen reminded them.

Meanwhile, after many attempts to find their way out the back and heading in circles, Kale and Dais finally reached the back of the facility.

"Are you sure this is the back?" Rajei asked.  
"I told you, the sixtieth time's the charm!" Kale replied, proud of himself.  
"This is the last time we let you lead the way." Dais said.  
"I second that." Rajei replied.  
"Something's not right here. Didn't Ms. Jishou post guards back here?" Dais asked.  
"Yes, last I checked." Rajei answered.  
The group heard moans coming from above them, and looking up to investigate, they found the guards pinned to the wall with some sort of Resin.

"What is that stuff?" Kale asked.  
"It's some kind of Resin. Insects make their nests with them and to trap prey. But my analysis shows that it's from plants."  
"Plant Resin? Oh dear. We have a plant problem." Rajei replied.  
"That is correct, Champion." A voice replied.

Another Mage Officer, a plant thing, a large muscular individual with bionic arms, a female archer, and something resembling a humanoid insect stepped out of the shadows.  
"It's about time you got here." Amaya said.  
"We were detained." Rajei replied.  
"Doesn't matter now, you're going to be our prisoner." Pugnare declared, going for a pair of swords.

"Kale, Dais, be on your guard. These are the Dark Rounin, some of the nastiest soldiers the Miraju have."  
"Rounin? Are they samurai?" Kale asked.  
"The word has a very different connotation in the Miraju language, referring to a shadow beast that plagued them for years until they advanced. Now the term is used to refer to their most dangerous soldiers, second only to the Royal Guard themselves."  
"Do these guys have anything that, well is easy?" Kale asked.

Dais whacked Kale upside the head.

"Let's get these guys. They won't take Rajei without a fight." Dais declared.  
"Yeah, if you want Rajei, you'll have to go through us first!" Kale shouted.

Even though it was probably not possible for the Miraju to understand Kale's threat, Alleth hit the two with a telekinetic push, slamming them into a wall.

"This is going to be one of those DBZ length fights that takes half a season to complete, isn't it." Kale replied.

The Dark Rounin sprung into action, spreading out and heading for the two warriors standing between them and Rajei. Amaya flapped her wings in a blur and ascended rapidly, proceeding to send purple clouds of vapor slowly towards Kale and Dais, which they attempted to dodge to no avail.

"Kale, as long as she's up there, we're in trouble! We've got to get her down to our level!" Dais shouted.  
"Any ideas?" Kale asked.  
"Not too many. You and I have two of the most close range destruction suits in our whole arsenal." Dais replied.  
"We could try pulling her down." Kale suggested.

Kale whipped up his heat rod, while Dais extended his claws in an attempt to grab Amaya, but they were cut down as Pugnare broke out a pair of broadswords and shortened their length in seconds.

"Great. Now what are we going to do?" Dais wondered as Pugnare charged with great speed and Dais attempted to block with his broken claw, which did very little to the incredible strength of Pugnare. The broken weapon broke again, and Pugnare used the other sword to knock Dais away, sending the Warlord of Illusion several feet before landing painfully. Dais opened up his chest plate, exposing the triple mega-sonic gun.

"DODGE THIS!" Dais shouted as he let fire with the weapon, which knocked him in the opposite direction without his claws to anchor him. The attack slammed clear into Pugnare, managing to disarm him, but his metal arms absorbed most of the attack.

"Good job! Hit him again!" Rajei shouted, as Dais prepared to fire a second blast his way, only to have a leaf jammed into the works by Dema. The innocent looking but remarkably razor sharp plant part had severely blocked the focusing lens. If Dais tried to fire it now, it would not be pretty. With their only distance weapon out of commission the two heroes would be in big trouble. A pair of cannons unfolded from Pugnare's arms as he put away his swords, opening fire relentlessly as Amaya continued to rain balls of green energy or more of the purple clouds of vapor on the three of them.

"We've got to get close to them and shut them down!" Dais shouted, breaking out his beam saber.

The three charged forward, only to be stopped by a powerful gust of wind courtesy of Tallis, which pushed them back as they attempted to gain more ground with the original problem of incoming energy bolts. The biting wind was so intense it was ripping away their armor bit by bit as stray blasts managed to hit them, knocking off even more parts.

Rajei spread his wings and managed to soar above the wall of wind, dodging leaves and energy bolts, managed to get a bead on Tallis and let fly with one of his flame arrows, knocking her down and taking out her wall of wind as well. Kale and Dais wasted no time firing up their verniers and rocketing forward, as the Dark Rounin braced for impact. Alleth wasted no time as a telekinetic barrier now stood between the heroes and their adversaries.

"Great. Is there anything these guys can't do?" Dais asked as he and Kale attempted to put a dent in Alleth's TK Force Field.

"Rajei, you wouldn't happen to have anything that'll crack this thing, do you?" Kale said as he struck with yet another blow.  
"No. We have no choice but to wait until it dissipates." Rajei explained.  
Alleth cut off the barrier, as the barrage of laser blasts, arrows, and various bolts of energy were unleashed on the trio. Rajei did all he could to fire back with his flaming arrows, but Amaya managed to dodge and made a literal beeline for him, only to be swatted away by Kale, who had extended his beam sword to extreme length in hopes of using it like a fly swatter. He swung again and again at the insectile armor, but Amaya being in a bio-organic insect armor, easily dodged out of the way as Kale swung again and again repeatedly.

"Stay STILL!" Kale shouted, swinging the flat part of his energy blade down again and again, only for Amaya to dart out of the way once again, this time sending out some sort of silk spray that began to entangle poor Kale in a matter of seconds. She then came down out of the air, only as Kale managed to cut himself free, as she kicked off and rammed him in the chest with her horn, damaging the chest greatly as panels simply crumbled away. She grabbed his shoulders with her claws, brought her legs up, and kicked off, sending Kale flying into a wall. His wings fell off as he got back to his feet and readied himself for another go

Dais' luck was not much better, as the Dark Rounin continued to do damage to his own armor. With his primary weapon damaged, he was left with little more than his extendable claws and a beam saber. Neither weapon was going to get him very far. They were going to need a miracle, and fast.

Amaya hit Kale with yet another purple cloud, as the spores inside began to slowly eat away at his armor, as she shot another green bolt his way, which knocked off his shoulder guards with no trouble. Small bits and pieces had eve begun to crumble off on their own with every step.

"You're mine..." Amaya said. Although Kale could not understand what she was saying, the nuances in her voice told him it was not good. He braced himself for the worst as a red and orange blur closed the distance and struck hard with a blow to the head with his staff.

"Rajei!" Kale exclaimed. "What took you so long?"  
"They were keeping me busy. You have done well in trying to defend me, but now it is my turn to show them I will not come easy."

A thread of flame appeared from his staff as he drew back his bowstring and a eagle-headed arrow was notched and sent screaming into Amaya, who did all she could to put her flames out. Another of the flaming arrows was sent at Pugnare, who went flying backwards as well. He then aimed at Dema, who would become kindling in a matter of seconds had he not fired off a seed that flew into Rajei, wrapped him in vines, and forced him to the ground as it leached his energy away.

"That ought to hold you. Let's grab him and get out of here."

Undaunted, but weak, Rajei summoned his wings and quickly broke free, soaring into the air and preparing to give the Dark Rounin another taste of his arrows. Dema threw several of his leaves towards the champion, but they were merely knocked away by his staff.  
Out front, the gathered heroes still struggled to take down the stone behemoth that had been brought in. They were doing a better job of denting it than they were actually destroying it. Even the armor specially designed for heavy assaults were doing little more than scratching the body, and Yuri combined with I.J. had done more than their share of damage.

"Some sot of air attack would probably take down this stone freak in no time flat!" Rowen concluded, taking elemental type into account.  
"But none of us here ARE air, except for your old armor, and Yoko!" Kento shouted back.  
"We could try getting him wet!" Sai suggested.  
"Worth a shot. Sai, Ran, get ready!" Rowen ordered.

Aiming their weapons straight at the stone behemoth, energy gathered in their man-catchers as they shouted in unison...

"SUPER...WAVE...SMASHER!"

Two blue blasts of energy shot out and slammed into the elemental, causing it to reel backwards. But it stomped the ground, sending a shockwave towards the two that knocked them off their feet.

"Ohhh, I've had enough of this big stony maggot! TRANSFORM!" I.J. shouted, going to robot mode.

"Let's see how you do against something your own size!" I.J. shouted as he stomped up to do business, beating up the stone giant Special Forces style. Three blows later and the rocky giant was down on the ground with a thud.

"Hoorah! How do you like that maggot? Want some more?"

I.J. hefted the stone behemoth up as his cannon locked into position around his waist, letting go as he fired, knocking it back the way it came, leaving another dent in the facilities' walls. Ramito, who had leapt to safety after I.J. had decided to go hand to hand with the elemental, quickly dismissed the creature back to its home dimension.

"Anyone or anything else want a piece of me?" I.J. asked.

The Miraju forces there decided now was a good time to run, seeing how their stone giant had been defeated easily by the other side's metal one.

"Alleth, we're withdrawing. That large metal thing easily took care of our trump card. With us gone, the others are sure to come help their friends. Meet us back at the camp. Ramito out."  
As the telepathic transmission ended, Alleth knew that more trouble was on the way. Even the Dark Rounin could not fend off a force that large alone. Even with one of his best spells. It was time for a hit and run attack, one that would not only hopefully hit Rajei enough so that he could easily be grabbed in the confusion it caused, but hopefully also leave them with a few less opponents to deal with.

Alleth began chanting an incantation as equations began to appear in the air around them. The other Dark Rounin knew what this meant; they would have very little time to grab their objective.

A magical meteor slammed into Rajei with incredible force, knocking him and the the Warlords off their feet and ripping away even more of their armor in the process, as Rajei was entangled in vines, pulled away from them, as Amaya quickly began to cocoon the weakened warrior. The spell faded out as the two looked to see their objective bound, and their opponents disappearing into their black ship and taking off. Their armor almost completely destroyed, the other heroes burst into the area, seeing the last of the enemy ship taking off.

"Yeah! Take that you moon-loving sons of bitches! No one messes with the Ronin Warriors and gets away with it!" Kento shouted, under the impression that the sight they were viewing was that of their companions being victorious and sending the Miraju packing. Looking around, the hero failed to catch a glimpse of their phoenix-winged ally.

"Dais, Kale, where's Rajei?" Kento asked.  
"They succeeded, not us. Rajei's their prisoner. We couldn't stop them, and our armor's all beaten up. It's over." Dais replied sadly.

**This is the end of part 1. Please grab your towels and contemplate the equation of six times seven until next time.**

NEXT EPISODE:

KENTO: Damn it damn it damn it! We lost Rajei, and now that Asterra guy's going to take over the universe!

ANUBIS: It is not over yet Hardrock. We still have a prisoner of our own.

KENTO: Who we can't understand without Rajei. How are we supposed to find the Miraju now...Anubis, did you say something?

Anubis: No.

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; The Face of the Enemy. Watch for it.


	7. The Face of the Enemy

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 7: The Face of the Enemy**

As the Dark Rounin and their ship made their way back to the Miraju camp, there was fuming and more fuming going on back at Kinjiro's.

"Great. We lost Rajei, they're going to bring him to that Asterra guy, and then the whole planet, the universe, hell, the Megaverse will be screwed!" Kento shouted.  
"Calm down Kento. We can get him back." Rowen assured him.  
"OH REALLY? And how pretell do we do THAT?" Kento asked quite loudly.  
"That part I'm still working on." Rowen explained.  
"Kento's mostly right. We don't know where their camp is, let alone where the rest of the Miraju are. We know there's a ship in high orbit, but there's nothing we can do to get near it."  
"Sai's right. The Phantom Express doesn't have enough thrust on its own to reach escape velocity, it requires a seperate booster to get it into space, and although it weighs nothing once we get into space, it's still cumbersome." Ms. Jishou explained.  
"And whatever ship got all the Miraju here, is probably brimming with weapons." Sage concluded.  
"What about the Kusanagi?" Rowen asked. "That's gotta have enough firepower to et us past whatever sentries they've got patrolling nearby. Then we can use the Phantom Express to find a way on board and get Rajei back."  
"I can go check on its readiness." Ms. Jishou said.

As suggestions, requests, and whatnot bounced around the room, Rowen heard a voice in his head.

"Rajei is not the only one who knows where the base is." it said.

He looked around. Everyone else was discussing something with the other members of the team. Then, he heard it again.

"Over here."

Rowen turned and looked around, still trying to discern where this disembodied voice was coming from.

"The cell...in the cell." it asked again.

Rowen made his way over to the cell, as he was instructed. But still, who was talking to him, and why could only he hear the voice?

"Telepathic messages to non-telepaths have to be directed at a single person." the voice explained.

That answered one of his questions. But as to who was speaking to him?

"Hello, Rowen of the Strata. I am Mage Officer Sura, C Company commander."

Rowen spoke no words, but his mind was a different story.

"What do I want with you? I will explain, with my words." Sura explained.

The Miraju reached over to a button of some sort on his armor, and pressed it.  
"Ah, much easier. Now, down to business." Sura said, but now everyone heard it, and whirled around to face the cell.

"You can speak Japanese?" Anubis exclaimed.  
"No. But with magic, I can understand it." Sura explained.  
"But if you had a way to communicate all this time, why didn't you?" Ryo asked.  
"I had no need. You however, need to know where our camp is, so that you can try and rescue the Champion before the Dark Rounin can make off with him."  
"But why help us? Isn't that what you want, for Asterra to steal Rajei's secret and then conquer the universe?" Kento asked.  
"The Miraju did not just take over Suanapolla so that Asterra could find the secrets of Hoen longevity. They also refused to accept him as their god."  
"So you're saying..." Anubis began to say, but Sura finished his sentence.  
"Yes, right now, Asterra is significantly checked and balance due to his undead-like characteristics. However, a fully immortal Asterra, would be even harder to stop. He was created to protect the Ruling Caste, not overthrow them and declare himself both our emperor and god."  
"So are all the Miraju fanatically loyal to him or utterly terrified?" Sai asked.  
"Both. There are those that would follow him to the ends of the universe, and those who simply obey because they do not want to find out what happens if they do not." Sura explained.  
"So why don't we get going? The Miraju aren't going to wait for us to show up and then get Rajei to their mothership." Kento suggested.  
"He's right. Okay Sura, we'll trust you, for now. Let him out of the cell." Rowen ordered.

The door was opened, and slowly but surely Sura and the remainder of his soldiers exited.

"Now, lead on."

Sura took off into the air, as the heroes followed close behind, either with their armor or by Seishi power. Sura's remaining troops bounded along below them, making their way towards the camp. Kale and Dais had stayed behind to see if anything could be done to repair their mecha armor. A few miles from the landing zone, Sura touched down, as the confused warriors alighted as well.

"What's wrong?" Kento asked.  
"Do you really think they're going to just let us walk in there, say, 'Hey, do you guys mind releasing Rajei?' and expect them to comply?" Anubis asked.  
"He does." Sura reported.

Anubis promptly whacked Kento upside the head for his idiotic thought.

"Ow! Then what do you suggest we do?" Kento asked, rubbing his head.  
"Half of you, shed your armor. I'll take it from there." Sura explained.

The non-Seishi removed their armor, as Sura's men proceeded to bind their hands, much to some of their surprise.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Kento asked.  
"The big idea, Kento, is that we're pretending to be prisoners so that we can get close enough to the camp without arousing much suspicion. When the time is right, Ryo and the others will blast their way in and together rescue Rajei." Rowen explained.

As before, a well bound Rajei was in the center of the camp, as the Miraju gathered came to look upon him, helpless and unable to do any more damage to Asterra's plans. Someone signaled as Sura and the remainder of his troops filed their way into the camp with their Ronin prisoners. The others saluted.

"Lord Ramito, I have managed to escape capture, and have taken some of my captors prisoner." Sura explained.  
"Very good Sura. But where are the others?" Ramito asked.  
"Most likely planning a counterattack as we speak. We should get the prisoner out of here immediately before they can attempt to retrieve him." Sura suggested.  
"It puzzles me, Sura, that when we attack their facility to free you and capture the Champion, that you did not attempt to make a break for it."  
"They had guards sir." Sura explained. "Which your superior numbers could have easily broken through. I doubt there were very many of them actually guarding you. There is no need to devote such troop strength to such a simple task." Ramito countered.

Nearby, the Seishi and She-Ronin prepared to spring their trap.

"What's Sura doing? Why hasn't he given the signal yet?" Yuri asked.  
"I have a bad feeling that things are not going according to plan." Anubis replied.  
"That, and the enemy's ability to launch a successful counterattack would require knowledge of the location of the camp, which our opponents do not have. Of all the officers in this battalion, you seem to have great affinity with those who are not members of our race. I suspect that there is no truth to this story."

He motioned for one of their dedicated psychics to come out.

"Tell me if he is lying." Ramito ordered.

"What's happening?" Ran asked.  
"How am I supposed to know, I don't speak Miraju!" Anubis said.  
"Should we blast our way in there?" Ryo asked.  
"Give Sura a little more time, he knows what he's doing." Anubis said.  
"I don't know...it looks like they don't believe him." Ryo observed.  
"Well? What is your judgment?" Ramito asked.  
"He seems very nervous, for someone who has the upper hand in the matter." came the reply.  
"Seize them!" Ramito ordered, as Miraju grabbed Sura and his soldiers.  
"You know full well what we do to traitors." Ramito said, grabbing a rifle from one of the other soldiers.

"The plan didn't work, let's move!" Ryo shouted, as he, Navcase, Anubis, Ran, and Yuri raced out from their hiding place. Knowing that the plan had failed, Rowen and the others broke free of their restraints and proceeded to go through their armoring up sequences as the three Seishi fought their way forward, taking down minions and Miraju left and right. Ramito shouted to the other soldiers, and some of them grabbed the entangled Rajei and headed for the Dark Rounin's ship. By this point the summonings had finished and Rowen and the remaining Ronin made a break for the ship. More soldiers attempted to block their path, but Kento steamrolled through them as Sage, Sai, and Rowen himself continued forward, only to get their own path blocked by Pugnare. With one swipe of his broadsword the three were knocked away, as other troops loaded Rajei into the ship as they raised the access ramp and the ship began to climb.

"Now what do we do?" Sage asked.

As if in answer, dozens of vines came flying up and wrapping around the vessel.

"Stop the traitor!"> Ramito shouted, as soldiers were ordered to go after Sura, but many Uranari and Space Elves stood in their way. Miraju soldiers still under Ramito proceeded to open fire on their own soldiers, taking them down easily as they began to seize up from the paralysis blasts. There were simply too many troops still under Ramito's command to even hold back.

A large fireball then slammed into a bunch of the troops attacking Sura and his men, as Ryo joined the party. Quicker than they could find him, Navcase came sweeping through, taking down still more. Yuri dodged fire from the Heavy Borgs still there, as she returned fire with her own heavy artillery, taking them down.

"Ryo, Anubis! Clear a path for Sura so we can get him out of here!" Rowen shouted as the two Seishi took point and began to beat soldiers away from Sura and his men as they followed closely behind.  
"Sage, Kento! Get up those vines and see if you can blast a way into that ship to get Rajei!"

Ran, Sai and Rowen opened fire on the other soldiers, distracting them so Kento and Sage could begin climbing the vines the Demetarians under Sura had been using to hold the ship down. Arrows and leaves had begun to be tossed at their impromptu anchor, cutting off some as others soon took their place. Luckily, none of the vines hit were the ones Kento and Sage were on. The two scrambled up the vines and now had the problem of how to get in.

"Any bright ideas?" Kento asked.  
"Not at the moment, I'm just glad we got this far." Sage answered.

No sooner did he finish his sentence did arrows hit their vines, sending them falling back to the ground.

"Okay, now what are we supposed to do?" Kento said no sooner than the two hit the ground.  
"Grab another vine and climb back up!" Sage shouted as he reached for another, only to find it limp as yet another fell to the ground uselessly.  
"Sura's guys better send some more up, otherwise we'll never get on board!" Kento shouted.  
"I don't even know how we're supposed to do that!" Sage shouted.  
"I don't suppose these guys can shoot out something more sturdy for us to climb on?" Kento asked.  
"We could try flying up." Sage suggested.  
"WELL WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF IT BEFORE?" Kento shouted loudly as the two rocketed up using the thrusters on their armor.  
"Okay, how do we get this thing open?" Kento wondered, as good ideas did not seem to be flowing cumulatively.  
"I'll try to think of something when there aren't arrows and razor-sharp leaves flying around!" Sage shot back. "Send one more arrow or leaf my boyfriend's way and you'll be dealing with me!" Yuri shouted.

As usual, the Nihongo-deprived minions of Asterra knew nothing of what was being said and continued to follow their orders to help the Dark Rounin get away. Yuri did not take kindly to this, as she attached her cannon to the Knuckle Bomber and proceeded to let them have it.

"Not enough, here, maybe THESE will get your attention!" Yuri shouted as she opened her chestplates, letting them have it with her technological Mega Smasher.  
"Good work Yuri. Any idea on how to bust this thing open?" Rowen asked.  
"One gaping hole, coming right up!" Yuri shouted as she dodged several soldiers, kicked up into the air, breaking out her Knuckle Bomber and attempting to make a dent, but there was nary a scratch after her attack.

"JESUS H. CHRIST, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS STUPID THING MADE OF?" Yuri shouted angrily.  
"Various extremely durable alien metals." Sura explained.  
"Gee, that narrows it down." Yuri countered sarcastically.

Navcase had put up his shield in an attempt to buy Sura and his escaping soldiers some more time, but the shield soon faded out. He would need some other way to keep them back.

"Gatousu, Reverse Zero Stance!" he declared, which sent shockwaves out from his position, which sliced cleanly through some troops but managed to knock back still others.

"Reverse Zero Stance? I didn't think there was one." Ryo said.  
"Technically, there isn't. But Benitora's Eight Sun is quite similar to my own attack that I figured that I might be able to pull off a Reverse Eight Sun of my own." Navcase explained.  
"He's been watching Anime again." Anubis groaned.  
"Anime? Is this another of your companions?" Sura asked, puzzled.  
"We'll explain later. Right now, we need to get you-"

Anubis was unable to finish his sentence as a full strength psychic blast slammed into Sura, knocking him off his feet as he began to groan in pain. Sura's troops gathered around their commander as more blasts began being aimed his way, many hitting his soldiers but a few managing to do more damage to Sura himself.

"Anubis, get him out of here!" Rowen shouted.  
"All right, grab onto me!" Anubis shouted to Sura. Sura told his soldiers to do the same, as Anubis' kanji began to glow and the group vanished.

On board their ship, Illandere was wondering how it could be so hard to take off when all that was holding them down was a bunch of vines.

"DAMMIT! Somebody man the weapons, otherwise we'll never get back to the flagship!" Illandere shouted.

Shots began to come from the ship itself as the vines were disconnected in one fell swoop and various Demetarians reduced to fertilizer, as the ship began to rise higher and higher, and then finally shoot off into the distance.

"Let's get out of here, we've lost Rajei, DAMMIT!" Rowen shouted as he ordered the group to fall back, as more energy bolts, railgun shots, and other ordinance was sent their way.

"Where'd Anubis go? He didn't say where he was going to teleport to." Kento asked.  
"He is here at the palace, with the Miraju soldier. I'll get you out of here." Amaterasu said, as a portal opened in front of them which Rowen ordered everyone to head for. It closed just in time as the Miraju forces were almost on top of them before it closed.

Once back in the palace, the group rushed to the infirmary, where Anubis and Sura's soldiers were gathered.

"His wounds are pretty bad. We need to get his armor off." Anubis explained as medical people prepared to do their work as Sura explained how to doff their battle armor, which came off quite easily despite all the cracks and broken crystals lining it. Underneath, his undergarments were somewhat soaked with blood. The heroes then removed his helmet quite carefully by detaching the clasps at its sides, and slowly lifting it off, only to have the group gasp in total surprise as they saw Sura's face for the first time.

"You guys are humans!" Kento exclaimed, breaking the short silence. "For the most part, yes." Sura replied weakly.  
"He's got internal bleeding. We'll have to work fast." came the reply from Amaterasu's doctors.  
"Sura, where is Asterra's flagship?" Rowen asked, knowing that he may not get another chance.

Sura coughed up some blood, before replying, "In the asteroid belt, between the planets you call Mars and Jupiter. But you'll be going to his flagship, and it is dangerous. I have never myself seen it, but I assure you, not many have escaped from it alive." Sura answered.  
"Any intel on what we can expect to face there?" Rowen asked, but Sura did not have a chance to reply as the various medical people shooed the group out of the room and shut the door behind them.

"Now what?" Kento asked.  
"We need the Kusanagi. Otherwise we've got a snowball's chance in hell of getting near that ship." Ryo answered. *"Rowen, it's Ms. Jishou. I have good news and bad news." came a message over his comm.  
*"What's the good news?" Rowen asked.  
*"The Kusanagi is all checked out and ready to launch. There's only one problem."  
*"This would be the bad news, I take it." Rowen said.  
*"I don't know how it happened, but suddenly all of Houji's machines came online and are blocking the path to the ship! I'm contacting Lt. Enzeru and her group, but I think we're going to need more than that, there are lots of mechs." she explained.  
*"Damn. All right, we're on our way." Rowen replied, before the signal cut out.  
"Time to take care of the warranty on Houji's bots? Kento asked.  
"More than that. If we don't get to that ship, then we don't save Rajei. If we don't save Rajei, then we, the Hoen, and even the Miraju, are doomed." Rowen said.

**See you Space-bound Samurai...**

**NEXT EPISODE:**

KENTO: Okay, how did Houji get his mechs back online?

ROWEN: I have no idea, but we're going to hopefully find out as we blast our way through the blasted place again.

ANUBIS: For Houji's sake, I hope he is insured.

ROWEN: It's next time on Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; Return to Otoantou.

ENZERU: You will not want to miss it!


	8. Return to Otoantou

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 8: Return to Otoantou.**

"Let's move out guys. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get the Kusanagi, blast into space, and beat Asterra." Rowen said.  
"Still, someone should stay here to watch Sura." Ryo insisted.  
"He's right. Sura is our only key to taking on the Miraju, and although his troops have gathered around his door, one of us should stay behind." Anubis added.  
"But who?" came Sai's inquiry.  
"Well, Enzeru's probably bringing a good deal of firepower herself, so maybe we should stick to close range fighters?"  
"That would mean myself, Kento, Sage, and perhaps Sekhmet would be good for the operation." Anubis suggested.  
"What about Navcase?" Ryo asked.  
"I unfortunately have been detained by Yuriko. If anyone would be so kind as to help me out, it would be greatly appreciated." he explained.  
"Sai and I would be glad to help out. We'll be in the kitchen, standing by for her weird cravings." Ran said, heading off to the kitchen with Sai, as Navcase headed for Yuriko's room.  
"The rest of us should head back to Kinjiro's in case the rest of the Miraju try something funny." Rowen said.  
"Which means, Dais and Kale can go keep Sura company." Ryo said.  
"All right, it's settled, so let's move out!" Rowen declared.

The group headed for Otoantou approached carefully, making sure not to fly too high and get blasted by Houji's renegade mecha. As expected, the front gates were locked, but Kento was glad to show Houji that he had the key, except for the fact that the key in question also destroyed said door. Marching in the front through the recently breached and destroyed doorframe, they found it quite uninhabited.

"Something's weird here. Didn't Ms. Jishou say that they had a large mech problem?" Sage asked.  
"She did, but perhaps they are deeper inside." Anubis replied. "We should still be careful."

Proceeding further in towards the main entrance to the complex itself, one of the hangars mysteriously opened as various GUAIZ units began filing out and firing on the heroes!

"Great, these ones are bigger than we are. What are we supposed to do to stop them?" Sage wondered.  
"I don't care how big they are, I'll take 'em down regardless!" Sekhmet declared, going for all six of his blades and charging madly at the closest one, as it fired its grappling hook, which he sidestepped as he charged up the wire and proceeded to slash it to death, leaping off its head to the ground.

"DARKNESS FROM THE DEPTHS!" Anubis shouted, holding out his beam scythe as energy shot up from the ground and gathered around the weapon, which he then let fly and devastated one of the approaching mechs. Sage rocketed into the air, and with a cry of "THUNDER BOLT CUT!" came crashing down cleanly through another, splitting it neatly in two.

"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!" Kento shouted as he sent a flurry of stones into yet another GUAIZ, destroying it.  
"It's going to take more than this to take the rest of them out!" Anubis shouted, as the group began setting up for another round of sure-kills, only to watch as precision shooting blew the heads off the rest of them one by one. One of them seemed to have been neglected as it was cut down by a pair of back-mounted blades. The unit stopped as the pilot leapt down, silver bars on the shoulders of her pilot suit.

"Good to see you again, Lieutenant." Anubis said.  
"Same here. We got here as soon as we could." she answered, pointing to the Sniper A.S. that were still in firing position, waiting to take out any more units that decided to give them trouble.

"All right everyone, let's get to that ship!" Anubis shouted.

Enzeru and her troops, along with Anubis and his group, made their way into the hangar the mechs had emerged from.

"Okay, there's gotta be a way down to the lower levels. Spread out and let me know when you find it." Enzeru ordered, as Ronin and soldier alike fanned out in search of the controls.

"Lieutenant, I found the controls for the lift. They're over here." Okita replied.  
"Good work Sergeant Major. Everyone, get your mechs on the lift and prepare to descend." Enzeru commanded.

Tactical Armors, Armored Shrikes, Ulti-Maxes and Gundam-armored samurai boarded the lift and Okita proceeded to lower the lift to the next floor down.  
"Get ready everyone, we have no idea what Houji's throwing at us." Enzeru said.  
"Not a problem boss, we've got everything under control." PFC. Itazura replied.

That statement was fund to be false as various Aegis, GUAiZ, DINN's, GINN's, among other things, were waiting for them to arrive.

"Open fire!" Enzeru shouted, as a hail of bullets erupted from the Ulti-MAX and Heavy Duty A.S., as well as the Tactical Armors, cutting down many, as the faster moving group under Anubis fanned out and took down many with precision cuts from their beam weapons.  
"Wow, I wasn't expecting that much of a reception." Itazura replied.  
"Stow it Itazura. Ma'am, this lift doesn't go down any further." Okita replied.  
"Wonderful. So what do we do now?" Enzeru asked.  
"Blast our way through that door over there, find some sort of console, and get a schematic of this place." Okita answered.  
"Sounds like a plan. Tengu! Set a breach charge on that door and let's get moving." Enzeru replied.

PFC. "Tengu" Itazura pulled a charge off of one of his many bandoleers and set a charge on the door. Anubis, Kento, and Sage got into position to charge their way in as the charge blew, forcing the door open as the samurai cleared their way into the next room, only to find nothing.

"Room's clear, but there's a problem. Door's not big enough for the larger mecha to fit through. The Ulti-MAX, Super Tengu, and my power armor should be fine, but that means we'll be at a disadvantage." Okita reported.  
"Dammit Houji, you're going to make this harder than I thought. You there! Let me borrow your Ulti-MAX." Enzeru ordered one of the troops, who stepped out of his armor and she stepped in.

"Sergeants Kaido and Seki, you're in charge until I get back. Don't let anything except us through this door." Enzeru ordered.

"Yes Ma'am." the two responded.

The much smaller team proceeded down the hallway, Enzeru and the other Ulti-MAX pilot leading the way since they had the most firepower. Okita and Anubis' group brought up the rear, as they came to a key padded door along the left wall.

"Okita, do you think you can override that terminal?" Enzeru asked.  
"I'll do my best Lieutenant." Okita said as he walked up to the console and began typing furiously. In a matter of minutes the console turned green and the door opened.

Okita and Enzeru carefully made their way in there with their weapons ready, finding the room clear, with the exception of yet another terminal. Okita wasted no time typing away furiously, hoping this one could buy them precious information that would help in their assault.

"Jackpot." Came Okita's reply.  
"What have you found Sergeant Major?" Enzeru asked.  
"I've got the schematics for the facility up. This will be a challenge and then some to crack. Turns out, all the lifts in this place are on opposite sides, and each only goes down one floor."  
"How lovely. I suppose the lift for the next floor is down the hall a ways, presumably with another welcoming committee?" Enzeru replied.  
"Affirmative Lieutenant."  
"And the Kusanagi?" Anubis asked.  
"Down several more floors." Okita replied.  
"Wonderful. This keeps getting more and more fun by the minute." Anubis replied.  
"Good. More mechs to banish to the scrap heap." Sekhmet replied.  
"All right everyone, let's move out." Enzeru replied.

The group filed out of the room, watching the entryway carefully to see that it was safe to proceed, and then the group continued down the hall towards the next cut off hangar.

"I don't understand this. If each of the hangars only goes down one level, and the connecting hallways are too big for larger machines to get through, why bother?" Sage asked.  
"I'll tell ya why, to make our lives more of a hassle." Itazura replied.  
"There's the door leading into the next hangar. I expect we'll have some new metal friends waiting for us." Okita replied.  
"Then let's give them a present. Tengu, set a breach charge and then toss a grenade in there."  
"With extreme pleasure boss!" Tengu replied as he set the charge, cleared away form the door, and then chucked a frag grenade into the hangar, which exploded and did severe damage to most of the mechs, as the others charged in to clear the room.

"Okay, this room's clear. Let's get on that lift and make our way down to the next level."

The three units with railguns took point at the edge of the lift, as they lowered it down in hopes that they would not have any problems on the next floor down. Unusually, their arrival on the next floor down was without a welcoming committee. Instead, there stood two mechs, locked into place

"That's odd, they sort of look like Himeihoshi." Anubis commented.  
"Oh dear God..." Tengu replied, looking up at the two machines.  
"What's wrong Itazura..." Okita asked.  
"These two mechs, they're smaller replicas of Alpha and Omega One from Macross Plus!"  
"But what are they doing HERE?" Kento asked, eager to know what Houji had been up to.

Suddenly, the eyes of the two mechs began to glow.

"Shit, I think we woke them up..." Tengu replied, as he proceeded to make a break for the door.

"This is a restricted area. Please identify yourselves." The one resembling Alpha One asked.

"1st Lieutenant Miharu Enzeru. We've been sent by Houji Otoantou to make sure his base is ready for action upon his return." she said quickly, hoping the mechs would buy it.

"Understood. We are Tsuppari and Chouka, constructed by Houji for the purpose of destroying Himeihoshi."  
"That explains it. Build Valkyries to kill Valkyries." Anubis replied.  
"And how come we never found these guys before?" Kento wondered.  
"Probably because we never went this deep into the base, or used the mech lifts." Anubis replied.  
"Are there only two of you, or are there more?"  
"There was a third of us in development, but construction was never started." Chouka replied.  
"That means the plans for the third one could be here somewhere." Kento replied.  
"Or Houji could have taken them when he disappeared. Either way, we don't have time to be looking for lost mech plans. We need to get to the Kusanagi, and get it into space, ASAP." Enzeru interrupted.  
"She's right. Let's keep going." Anubis replied.  
"You two, you can go back on standby. We'll come back for you later."

"As you command Lieutenant." Tsuparri and Chouka said in unison, their eyes fading out.

"Okay, fill me in here, because I'm obviously missing something." Tengu started to say as they made their way to the next lift. "We got the call that said all of Houji's mechs had suddenly turned on and attacking anything that got in their way. So why were those two off?"  
"Not sure. But it didn't look like they were armed, so we would have been fine, presumably." Okita explained. "But our top priority is reaching that ship."  
"Yes, with the Kusanagi, we rest all hope, for Earth, and countless other worlds." Anubis explained.

Another door was kicked in with the help of a breach charge, as more of Houji's mechs were taken out with beam blades and vibro-swords. The lift was boarded, and the group descended to yet another level.  
"Hey Okita, how many levels does this place have anyway?" Tengu asked.  
"Lots." Okita answered.  
"That's not much of an answer." Tengu shot back.  
"More mechs, take them out!" Okita shouted as more railgun shots were unleashed and beam weapons utilized to trash Houji's toys.

The group descended several more floors, facing mechanized opposition, until, at last, they reached the floor where the Kusanagi was located.

"Damn, it's about time we got there." Tengu shouted, relieved.

A worker from Osaki came up to the group, looking extremely relieved.

"Thank goodness you made it through all those Mechs. The ship's all set to go, we just need to-"

The worker was cut off as mechs blasted their way through the door and everyone looked for cover.

"Into the ship! It might be our only chance!" Enzeru ordered.

She and the other Ulti-MAX pilot laid down suppressing fire while the others clambered across the gangplank and into the ship.

"Sage, get up to the gunnery station and see if you can help Enzeru out! Everyone else, follow me up to the bridge, we've got to get this thing out of here!" Anubis shouted.

As railgun shots slammed into the mechs outside, workers rushed into the ship quickly, heading for their stations, as Enzeru and the others quickly ran out of ammo and Tengu unfortunately ran out of grenades as he flew around the mammoth hangar, and then ducked into the ship.

"We've got to get this thing underway. Any idea on how we do that?" Anubis asked the crew.

"We're still not sure how Houji got this thing out in the first place." one said.  
"There has to be some way, a door, a passage, something!" Anubis insisted.  
"Either that or we use the weapons on this thing to make one." Tengu added.  
"No explosions." Lt. Enzeru insisted.  
"Hey! What's this button do?" Tengu asked, pushing a button on a console.  
"Tengu! What do you think you're doing?" Okita shouted. "Do you have any idea of how this thing even works?"

Somehow, whatever Tengu had done was a good thing, as the wall in front of the ship started to slide upwards.

"Tengu! You're a genius!" Lt. Enzeru shouted.  
"I am?" he asked.

Their celebration was short lived as water rushed into the hangar, filling up about half the room.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Lt. Enzeru shouted.  
"Hey, what happened to me being a genius?" Tengu shot back.  
"That was before you inadvertently flooded this place!" Okita answered.  
"Wait, it sort of makes sense. That passage must lead out into the ocean or something." one of the workers explained.  
"Well then let's get this show on the road!" Anubis commanded.

Workers rushed to their stations as the ship pulled out of its dock and into the hole that had just opened, only to find that the same hole had just closed behind them!

"TENGU!" Enzeru and Okita shouted.  
"This one wasn't my fault!" Tengu fired back as the chamber they were in began to fill up with water as well. When the chamber was flooded, the outer door opened and the ship proceeded to make its way out into the water.

"Okay, let's get this thing to the surface somehow." Anubis said.  
"I don't think this thing has bow planes Anubis." Sage replied.  
"It probably has verniers of some sort." Enzeru replied. "You there, pull up on the controls and we should ascend nicely."

The worker she pointed to pulled back on the controls, and sure enough, the ship began to work its way up on a slight angle.

"We should be on the surface in no time." Enzeru replied.

The ship ascended slowly, eventually gently breaking the surface as the ship rested flat in the water.

"Okay, now what?" Anubis asked.  
"We bring this thing towards Yokosuka." Enzeru said.  
"Why there?" Anubis asked.  
"Ms. Jishou said she made a few calls and got us a temporary berth there. Besides, they've got a crew from the MSDF waiting to temporarily take this thing over until we can find a better crew." Lt. Enzeru explained. "Ms. Jishou will meet us there with the rest of the mecha and we'll be headed towards the Asteroid belt."

Within a matter of hours and a few close calls, the Kusanagi pulled into its dock at Yokosuka, as SFC Ikkimura came in with the rest of the forces and saluted their commander.  
"Good to see you again Ma'am. I trust all went well?" Ikkimura asked.  
"Very good Sergeant. We managed to retrieve the ship and everything is ready to go on the Ronin's mission." Lt. Enzeru explained. "Get the mecha loaded aboard, so we can depart as soon as possible.

The dock area sprang to life as sailors lifted the 2805th's mechs aboard the carrier section, as well as several remote fighters based on the Masamune from Gundam SEED, along with the Midnight Express, which would be their only means of infiltrating the ship Rajei was being kept aboard.

"Good work Anubis." Rowen said as he came up to the ship.  
"Wasn't that difficult. You've got the hard part ahead of you." Anubis said.  
"Tell me about it. Infiltrate an alien ship, rescue an alien god thing of some sort, and get out before they blow us all up." Rowen replied. "Even with Navcase, Ryo, and Lt. Enzeru's help, it's still going to be tough."  
"Well, good luck to you then." Anubis said. "I'll hold down the fort until you get back."  
"Thanks for the encouragement. Well, I'm off." Rowen said, as he headed up the gangplank following Ryo and Navcase.

The Ronin of the strata headed up to the bridge, where he was greeted by Enzeru and the captain from the MSDF that was going to help them handle the unwieldy vessel, as the order was given to take the ship out, as the sailors present, both American and Japanese, saluted the ship as Anubis and the others from the capture mission looked on as the ship pulled away from the dock, miraculously lifted off the water, and headed off into the distance, getting smaller and smaller, until it was no more.

"Captain, we're clear of the Earth's atmosphere." one of the sailors reported.  
"Very good Petty Officer. I thought I'd never hear myself say this, but, set a course for the asteroid belt!"  
"Aye Aye!" the petty officer replied, as he made it so.

The Kusanagi began to pull away from Earth, towards Mars, the Asteroid belt, and hopefully, with a little Chi and a lot of luck, Rajei.

NEXT EPISODE:

ROWEN: Well this is it. We've gotta get to Rajei or everything's all over.

RYO: Don't worry Rowen, we'll get him free.

LT. ENZERU: Be careful. They'll probably throw everything they have at us to keep you from getting Rajei.

NAVCASE: It's our next episode of Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; Assault on the Miraju Flagship. You won't want to miss this one at all! 


	9. Assault on the Miraju Flagship

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 9: Assault on the Miraju Flagship.**

As the Kusanagi was making its way towards the Miraju fleet, another, unidentified ship, happened to be much closer.

"Commanders Primus and Garthis, we've reached the Miraju fleet. The data you collected from your last mission was correct, they have sent a sizable force to a planet called Earth."

"Good. Is the ship ready?" Primus asked.  
"Yes. The APC equipped with the small M-Field generator is ready to go at your command." the captain replied.  
"Okay, let's lock and load." Primus said, heading down to the hangar where a flying APC was standing by. Various males and females, all of whom had elaborate beading in their hair, saluted Primus and Garthis as they entered the room.

Primus was a well built human with somewhat silvery hair, easy to mistake him for a Miraju if it were not for the angelic wings coming out of his back. Garthis, on the other hand, was a tall humanoid being, looking almost mechanical, with yellow glowing eyes, no hair, and his skin a metallic hue. He was wearing various body armor and was at the moment brimming with weapons.  
"All right squad, listen up. Our mission last time was a complete success. The data we retrieved from that ship proved that the Prime Minister, and the captured scientists, are aboard this ship. Give yourselves a round of applause." Primus replied.

There was much cheering and clapping for a moment, as the noise faded out as quickly as it had began and Primus continued.

"We'll be entering through an airlock on Level Five. Once inside, we'll make our way down to Level Six, where they're holding the prisoners. Levels Five and Six are mecha hangars, so we should have plenty of wide open space should we need to fight. Level Six, however, I believe where they store golems, so hopefully we'll be okay on that front." Primus replied.  
"The ship is ready to go sirs." a beaded female replied.  
"Excellent Rangu. Let's get going." Primus ordered, as soldiers seated on supply cases each grabbed a rifle with three barrels, as others with yellow markings on their shoulders picked up a different looking scoped rifle or a large launcher of some sort instead, as they made their way aboard their small ship, hatches opening on the sides as most of the soldiers clambered in, while the remaining troops, Rangu, Primus, and Garthis themselves entered the center section.

"Let's get this show on the road. SHIJUNI!" Primus shouted.  
"SHIJUNI!" the other soldiers shouted in unison, as the craft lifted off and made its way out of the hangar and towards the Flagship.

"Okay Rangu, we're never going to get near that thing unless we put on our disguise." Primus replied.  
"On it sir." she replied, pushing a button.

The ship suddenly looked like a Miraju Dropship as they killed the lights inside and put on dimmer ones to be more evident that this was a MIRAJU craft. The rogue dropship was soon hailed, as Primus made sure he was the center of attention, hiding his wings under a Miraju cloak they had stolen.

"Dropship, please identify yourself." came a soldier aboard the Flagship.  
"This is Dropship 6720, bringing the requested supplies to the Flagship." Primus replied, hoping the intel they'd acquired on their last mission would allow them to land without incident.

Back aboard the Flagship, the soldier checked his references as to any and all ships that would be coming their way that day. Sure enough, the number checked out, but that particular craft was not expected to arrive for another few hours.

"Dropship, you're quite ahead of schedule." the soldier replied back to Primus.  
"We misread the flight plan. Regardless, we're ahead of schedule, so if you'll just clear us to land on Level Five, we'll be all set." Primus replied.  
"Level Five? Dropship, my records here show you're bringing a shipment of food to Level Three."

Primus' and Garthis' team had managed to get their hands on information indicating that the Hoen Prime Minister and several scientists were being held on the Flagship, and that a dropship was scheduled to make a delivery there today. The only thing they did not manage to find out was what their cargo was.

"Of course, I knew that. We were planning to land on Level Five and then bring the food up to Level Three." Primus lied.  
"Very well. You are cleared to land on Level Five. Opening airlock."

The screen faded as a hole opened in the hull of the flagship, which Rangu steered towards and prepared to land inside.

Inside the ship, a call to General Quarters was being made as soldiers rushed to Level Five, prepared to intercept the obvious threat.

The small craft set down amongst hundreds of Miraju fighters and bombers, clearly prepared for the invasion at hand.

"Everyone, get ready. I'm pretty sure they're on to us by now." Primus replied, as nanomachines emerged from their gauntlets and worked their way across the unarmored parts of their bodies, creating a seal between the parts they already wore as Primus donned a stormtrooper-like helmet as they readied their weapons.

The ship landed as the hatches opened and troops filed out from the two side hatches, taking firing positions against crates, aiming towards the door on the catwalk overhead. The door opened as masses of Miraju soldiers came charging into the room, aiming their weapons towards the extremely vulnerable troops on the floor below, many more heading for the elevators near the catwalks, preventing them from entering that way. Even more started to file in from the two doors towards the rear of the hangar.

"Okay, now what do we do?" one of the soldiers asked.

"We've got to make a break for the rear of the hangar. If we read the plans right, there's an ammo dump at the other end of the room, with elevators headed down to the next level down, where the prisoners are being held. Let's move!" Primus shouted, aiming his mini-missile gauntlets at the approaching troops at the other end and fired, as the dug-in soldiers fired the sniper part of their rifle, dropping infantry left and right as more troops started to advance forward, firing at everything they could. A few of the Hoen troops fell in the charge forward, but even more Miraju troops were cut down as anti-armor shells were hurled their way, taking out the Uranari Light Borgs that were making their way in. As Garthis managed to get closer, he let the troops have it with his sonic cannon, knocking them off their feet and sending the rest diving for cover as the mini-missile launcher on his back delivered a few more blows to the enemy troops. The troops towards the back taking sniper positions managed to take down many of the troops on the catwalk, but whomever has the higher ground usually has the advantage, as several of them were taken out as well. A few of the Hoen troops tossed grenades, which forced the Miraju forces to take cover as the Hoen continued to fight their way to the other side, taking defensive positions when they could, returning fire while the other group advanced, finally making it to one of the doors, only to find it locked.

"Great, this is just what we need. You, slice that control and get us in there, we'll watch your back." Garthis ordered.

One of the troops, who did not seem to be wearing as much armor, walked up to the control and began typing furiously, before long turning the light to green, forcing the door open and charging into the next room perfectly, troops in the room along each wall, down the center, with another bringing up the rear covering their escape route. A portion of them headed for the elevator, and headed down, ending up in some sort of cloning facility.

"Great. This must be where they make all their nasty troops." one of the soldiers replied.  
"We don't have time to figure out what it is the do in here. Standby to breach that door." Primus ordered.

A charge was placed as the troops took cover, as Miraju forces on the other side were knocked back by the grenade that was dropped on their party, taking a bunch of them down, rounding the corner and taking position, only to find more troops than they could possibly handle on their own. They had no other choice but to become prisoners themselves.

Deeper within the ship, one of the High Lords made his way into the throne room of Asterra himself. This room was darker than the others, mostly due to light bothering their emperor more than it did the regular Miraju.

"Eminence, we captured the Hoen forces that attacked." the High Lord explained.  
"Good." Asterra replied in a gravely voice. "Did they know about the Champion?"  
"No, my Lord. They seemed to come only to save the Prime Minister and the captured scientists."  
"Then we can proceed as planned." Asterra replied.

Meanwhile, the Kusanagi was approaching the Miraju flagship themselves. The main differences being, they did not have the more advanced technology the Hoen had, they could not make their landing craft look like a Miraju one, so it was going to take quite a diversion and some extreme hotshot piloting skills to get the Phantom Express on board without incident. Rowen, Navcase, Ryo, and Enzeru were on the bridge, looking out at the starry blackness before them. In their leaving of Earth, they had barely noticed the Miraju ship in high orbit until after they were well away from it. But that was simply an assault craft; they were looking for by far the most dangerous ship of the fleet, made even more dangerous by the being on board; Asterra himself, and Amaterasu knew what else. In order for this to work, they had to get the Miraju's attention by getting dangerously within range of their ship, and then launching their landing craft in the midst of the firefight. Rowen and the others climbed aboard the Phantom Express, hoping the craft was up to the task. A few of Enzeru's smaller power armor and their pilots were also aboard for the ride.

Back aboard the Flagship...

An alert signal traveled from Miraju to Miraju as their sensors detected the Kusanagi approaching their position. Asterra was quickly notified.

"What is it now?" the being snarled, clearly in the middle of something, as a body seemed to have tentacles wrapped around it at the moment.  
"Sorry to interrupt, your Eminence, but another ship has come into range of us. It does not appear to be Hoen or Sensharan design. What are your orders?" the High Lord asked.  
"Drop our M-Field and engage. Whoever they are, they are no match for our power." Asterra commanded.  
"As you wish, your Eminence." the High Lord concentrated and a psychic order resonated through the bridge. In mere seconds the ship shed its asteroid disguise and the approaching Kusanagi got its first real look at a Miraju ship.  
"Look at the size of that thing...it's HUGE!" came the exasperated exclamation of shock from Ryo.  
"It looks organic, no wonder we had trouble tracking their ships. The Hoen must have found some way, I hope." Rowen observed.  
"Boss, do we really have to go aboard that thing?" came Tengu's question.  
"Yes, we do. We must rescue these VIP's and get them away from the enemy forces." Enzeru replied.  
"Oookay...but it's our funeral." Tengu replied.  
"Cut the chatter Itazura, let's do this." Okita said.

The ship lifted off and raced out of the hangar as the Kusanagi's weapons were aimed towards the flagship and volleys silently erupted from the weapons, as energy bolts, lightning bolts, magical fireballs, and other things shot out from the other ship. Tengu flew like a madman, dodging blast after blast, barrel rolling out of the way of missiles and magic missiles flying back and forth, flying as fast as he could, engines pushed to the max.

"Does he always fly like this?" Rowen asked the Lieutenant.  
"No, this is only the second time we've had him try flying outside an atmosphere. He's doing better than I expected under the circumstances."  
"OH SHIT!" Tengu exclaimed.  
"What is it?" Enzeru asked.  
"Their hangar just opened up boss! They're sending out fighters! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" he exclaimed.  
"Stow it Itazura, they've probably been deployed to attack the Kusanagi, they'll probably leave us alone." Okita explained.  
"Then why are some of them heading for US?" Tengu shot back.  
"Damn. Rowen, you and the others get in back and get your armor on. I'll stay up here with Tengu until we're safely aboard that ship, Okita, you go back there too and tell everyone to get in their suits." Enzeru ordered.  
"Yes Ma'am." Okita said, saluting and heading in the back, where Ryo, Rowen, and Navcase had already armored up, leaving their faceplates open at the moment, as Okita climbed into his Ikuza and closed it up.  
"FASTER!" Enzeru shouted in the cockpit.  
"With all due respect, we're going as fast as WE CAN! That and we'll need to slow down otherwise we'll slam right into whatever they have regulating the gap between their hangar and the vacuum." Tengu explained, bringing the ship in for its final approach as fighters proceeded to close in on them, as Tengu managed to dodge psychic bolts sent their way, as he slowed down abruptly and slid partway across the still open hangar, knocking fighters out of their way as pilots prepared to take care of the problem any way they could. Enzeru slammed the release for the access ramp, as Okita raced down it, spraying the surprised pilots with railgun ammo, as the Ulti-max worked their way and used their own forcefields to allow the others some extra time to get out. The two Seishi then made their way out and took down the remainder, as Enzeru and Tengu in his own power armor worked their way out of the ship as well.

"We better get moving. It won't be long until they've sent for whoever repels boarders like ourselves." Lt. Enzeru said. Okita, take Rowen and see if you can find some sort of a terminal... if there is one."

From the looks of it, it was if a starship was squeezed into some sort of hollow exoskeleton of sorts, as pulses of light traveled along the ceilings, like nerve signals. On top of that, there were the bodies of black and silver "stormtroopers" lying all over the place.

"Wait a sec. That ship over there. Doesn't look like the others." Rowen pointed out.  
"Careful man. Not such a good idea to go investigate." Ryo warned him.  
"It'll only take a sec." Rowen answered.  
"All right. We'll take a look. Everyone, keep your eyes open." Enzeru replied as the group slowly approached, flanking each other and keeping an eye out to either side as they neared the craft. A few times, some of Enzeru's men swore they saw something moving, but brushed it off as their eyes playing tricks on them. At last, the group reached their destination.

"Looks to me like some sort of boarding craft. Hatches on the sides to deploy some troops, more probably being carried inside. Rowen, what are you doing?" Enzeru asked quietly as Rowen started to make his way up the access ramp.  
"I'm just going to take a look inside." Rowen replied.

Carefully working his way aboard the mostly cramped interior, it became more obvious that this was a boarding craft. There were two long benches along the sides, extra weapons, which looked quite beyond their own, along the back wall, and slumped forward in a chair directly in front of him at the controls, was a figure wearing the same black and silver armor as the other bodies. This one seemed to be less built than the others, probably a female. Dead? That was Rowen's first thought, but as he neared the body it became more obvious to him that there was at least one survivor, as this one was breathing. He began to reach out to touch, based on his assumptions, her to see how conscious she happened to be...

Meanwhile, the others had taken positions underneath this ship, again noticing something. What they were not aware of was that they were being lined up in scopes, by surviving snipers. Enzeru felt something was wrong, and happened to glance over to one side, as a suppressed shot went off, she shouted "SNIPER!" pushing Okita out of the way, the shot barely grazing her shoulder. "RYO, NAVCASE, GET DOWN!, OKITA, TENGU, FIGURE OUT WHERE THEY ARE AND TAKE THEM OUT BEFORE THEY TAKE US OUT!" she ordered.

Inside, inches away from being able to give her a shake, "she" came to, elbowed him in the chest, surprisingly sending him flying in the other direction. Yuri, he thought, was the only girl that could hit that hard. Before he could blink or do anything else, he had a blaster pistol trained on him, as the figure shouted something that sounded foreign and familiar at the same time. Putting his hands up, the figure led him out of the ship, as Enzeru and the others were still searching for the snipers, who by now had shimmeringly moved to new nests and prepared to fire again. The figure still training her pistol on Rowen shouted something, and out of the blue appeared three more soldiers in the same black and silver armor, who threw back their hoods and cloaks and moved in on their new prisoners, motioning for them to come out of their armors, which they did. They then shouted something else in their strange but familiar sounding language, presumably for Ryo, Navcase, and Rowen to do the same, who dismissed their armors after being shoved by one of them.

"Where are Primus and Garthis? Where have you taken them?" the female demanded to know.  
"We don't know! But we didn't do anything to them!" Rowen replied, knowing this was probably making no sense to them.  
"Miraju were the ones responsible for our fallen comrades, Rangu. Not these people." One of the snipers explained to her. About the only words that the heroes were able to make sense of were "Rangu", who they figured was the name of the person training her pistol on Rowen, and something clearly having to do with the Miraju.  
"Then they must know something about Primus and Garthis." Rangu insisted.  
"Look, if these two people you're talking about are your commanders, we don't know where they are! We just got here ourselves!" Enzeru shouted.

As the barrage of questions that our heroes could only guess at continued, Rowen's inquisitive mind was putting all of this together. They'd seen Miraju before, so these had to be Hoen, he guessed. But how could Rajei have picked up on their language so quickly? As the Hoen, at least he figured they were, asked questions, he soon came to the conclusion. The Hoen language and his own were similar! They were simply putting emphasis on the middle syllable rather than the first, a common mistake of beginning Japanese speakers, or people who had no clue. But he had to test his theory.  
"Are you four Hoen?" Rowen asked, speaking the same words, but putting the wrong emphasis on them as the Hoen had, hoping his theory was right.  
"Yes. We are Hoen." Rangu explained. "But who are you?"  
"My name is Rowen. This is Ryo, Navcase, Lt. Enzeru, and the rest of her soldiers. We're here to rescue Rajei." he explained.

The four Hoen exclaimed the name aloud. After lowering or stowing their weapons, they began pressing some buttons on their gauntlets, many in the group were ready to race back to the ship quadruple time, moreso after Tengu thought they were activating some sort of self-destruct. However, his fears were put to rest as their underarmor receded back into their belt buckles, revealing some sort of linkup, something like what the Ronin used to use to connect to their armors. The four reached up and removed their helmets, letting their bright red beaded hair fall as the helmets came off. Rangu was indeed female, and a very attractive looking one, at that.

"YOU KNOW RAJEI? HE'S HERE?" Rangu replied ecstatically.  
"Uh Rowen, what's going on here, how come you can suddenly understand them?" Ryo asked.  
"It's simple. Their language is remarkably similar to ours, that's how Rajei picked it up so fast. It'll take some getting used to, but I think we're okay." "So what brings you guys here?" Rowen asked.  
"We came here to rescue our Prime Minister and captured scientists from Asterra, but I fear the attack may have failed. I know not how many of us survived." Rangu explained.  
"Well, if you guys can help us find Rajei, we'll help you out. We might as well stick together." Rowen explained.  
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Rangu exclaimed, practically hugging Rowen to death. Rowen turned beet red and also slightly blue from this, as Rangu blushed a little and let go.  
"Let's move out then. SHIJUNI!" Rangu shouted.  
"SHIJUNI!" the other Hoen shouted.

The Hoen donned their helmets and reactivated their nanite armor as the group moved forward.

"Does she have any idea where they might be?" Enzeru asked.  
"Rangu says they're probably on the next level down. That's where they were headed." Rowen explained. The group climbed on the elevator one of the snipers pointed to in the next chamber and they took it down to Level Six.  
"Looks like they breached the door. Wish there was a way to see what we're up against without them finding out-" Enzeru replied as she was pushed aside and blocked by one of the snipers.  
"He says they've got something for that." Rowen explained, as no sooner did he say that a mechanical arachnid thing crawled down the sniper's back and crawled up the wall and across the ceiling. Everything the droid saw was seen in the HUD of the sniper as it looked into an open door.  
"He says they're all in the brig. The Prime Minister, the remaining troops, Rajei, and Garthis." Rowen replied.  
"Garthis?" Ryo asked.  
"Rangu says he's the second in command. He's a Sensharan, some other race than the Hoen." Rowen explained before he had to translate for the sniper once again, explaining that he'd spotted Primus in the interrogation room.  
"Now what are we supposed to do?" Ryo asked.

"We handle it like soldiers. Rowen, ask them how many guards are in the next room."

Rowen relayed the information to the sniper, who in turn replied back to Rowen that there were six.

"Can we take them down?" Ryo asked.  
"Yes, but not by charging in there powers and weapons blazing. Tell the snipers to pick their targets, and ask if they've got any way to make this go quickly." Enzeru asked.

Rowen again relayed the message to the snipers, one of whom pulled out a grenade of some sort.

"He says it's a light grenade. It'll blind them and give us enough time to drop the guards and get the prisoners out in due time." Rowen explained.

The snipers began conferring with each other, using hand signals as well as their comlinks to figure out who was going to deal with which guard. One of the snipers had a different weapon, a dedicated sniper weapon rather than the three barreled weapon the other two had.

"Nanajin is one of the best snipers the team has. Only the most elite sharpshooters in a commando unit get assigned that weapon." Rangu explained.

Nanajin used various hand signals as the three got into position and trained their weapons on the target. Nanajin tossed the grenade into the room, as the prisoners in the room recognized it and covered their eyes instinctively, as the civilians were ordered to do the same, as the charge went off, sending out blinding light that surprised the guards as the snipers quickly dropped all six, Nanajin training his rifle through the entryway as the other two switched over their weapons and headed in to make sure things were all clear before the others came in.

"Everyone all right?" Rangu asked.  
"We're quite fine Rangu, what are you doing here? And who are all these people?"

Rangu and Rowen quickly filled in the two commanders of everyone in the other group, and explained how they had gotten into this predicament, with additional aid from Rajei himself.

"So let me get this straight. You guys are heroes from a distant planet, the same one Rajei ended up on trying to run from the Miraju. The Miraju are poised to invade your world, or at least making it look like it, but more accurately they're going to leave once they have Rajei, or the people there make some effort to fight back. And we've never seen any orange and green portals like the ones you're describing." Primus said.  
"It's probably a good idea that we get ourselves out of here and back to the hangar before they figure out that the guards here haven't checked in." Enzeru said, which Rajei passed on to Primus and Garthis.

The combined group made it back to the elevator, and quickly took it up to the floor they were on. The commandoes went in first, scanning the hangar for any foes that might have reentered in their absence. Satisfied that it was clear, the group motioned for the others to enter the hangar as well.

With all points covered, the Ronin group made its way inside, making absolutely sure nothing had been missed when the area was cleared before, as they made their way carefully towards their respective crafts.

"This is way too easy. They may not know much about us being here, but they certainly know that the Hoen are here, so unless they're complete and total idiots, they've set up a trap for us. There's nobody and nothing guarding the ship, so we're extremely ripe for an ambush soon." Enzeru explained.  
"Primus and Garthis say they agree with you. They could be hiding anywhere." Rajei said.  
"How could they? I don't recall there being M. Field generators that small." Rangu said.  
"M. Fields?" Rowen asked.  
"It's a device the Miraju use to create illusions to hid their ships and bases. But there are none small enough to hide them in a hangar like this one." Rajei explained to those in the group that were not as Miraju-savvy.

"Good, we're almost out of here. Let's get in the ships and get back to the Kusanagi before we run into any other problems." Enzeru replied as the group hurried inside their respective ships and hurried through pre-flight as quickly as they could. The Hoen commandoes, however, seemed quite preocupied with loading their fallen into their ship.

"So you guys don't leave your dead behind either, I see." Lt. Enzeru commented.  
"Hoen are not as easily killed as your kind, Terran." Rajei explained, as the two with the shotgun-type weapons began jamming syringes into them. "Unless they suffer a hit directly to the heart or brain, they go into a healing trance. What those two are doing simply speeds up the process. I am surprised the Miraju forgot about this fact."

The fallen safely aboard and on the road to recovery, the two ships began lifting off and heading as quickly as they could for the Kusanagi, which was still pounding away with its weapons at the enemy flagship.

"Damn! Our mothership's gone! We won't be able to get back to base with what little power we have, and we don't equip these things with faster than light capability!" Primus shouted.  
"Come back with us guys. I'm sure Mia won't mind a few more boarders." Rowen said.  
"Yes, she's very nice and would be happy to have all of you, at least until we can get in touch with the rest of the Hoen forces." Rajei explained. "Fine then. We'll stay with you until we can find a way to get back to the rest of the fleet."

The hatches on the Kusanagi opened, and the two craft flew on board as they pulled away and worked their way back towards Earth.

"WHAT? MORE OF YOU?" Mia shouted in shock that in trying to rescue only Rajei, they had inadvertently brought back one Prime Minister, six Hoen scientists, three snipers, one rocket soldier, two engineers, a bunch of infantry, AND Rajei.

"Where am I going to put all of them?" Mia exclaimed.  
"Well, we could probably put most of them in Rajei's room, maybe a few in one of the spare bedrooms, the VIP's can stay over at Kinjiro's place, possibly whip up some extreme anti-Miraju gear." Rowen said, explaining his plan for trying to cram several more guests into the Koji Mansion.  
"C'mon Mia, these guys are soldiers. They're not going to be a burden." Ryo explained.  
"Fine, they can stay. But if things get out of hand, they're going to the palace." Mia said.  
"We understand, ma'am, thank you." Primus said.

The Prime Minister and scientists were quickly shuttled over to Osaki, where Ms. Jishou quickly made a priority to modify translators to the Hoen nuances so that interlingual communication would be possible and they could get to work on ways to combat the Miraju.

Meanwhile, back on the flagship...

"WHATTTTTT?" Came the extremely angry reply from Emperor Asterra when he was informed that not only had they lost Rajei, they had also lost the rest of their Hoen prisoners.

"I do not care how long it takes, or how many native inhabitants must be blasted into submission, or whatever else must be done, YOU WILL FIND THE HOEN CHAMPION, AND THE PRIME MINISTER, AND KILL EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHO AIDED THEM!" Asterra shouted.  
"Do not worry, your highness. I will find them, and destroy them." A cloaked figure replied.

**To be Continued...**

NEXT EPISODE:

ROWEN: Well, we've managed to free Rajei and Asterra's other Hoen prisoners, so I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that he's not happy.

RAJEI: Indeed so, Rowen, and he will stop at nothing to get them back. So we best be on our guard, and ready at several moment's notices to counter the attack.

RANGU: It's next time on Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; A Worthy Blade Appears. See you soon!.


	10. A Worthy Blade Appears

_"I do not care how long it takes, or how many native inhabitants must be blasted into submission, or whatever else must be done, YOU WILL FIND THE HOEN CHAMPION, AND THE PRIME MINISTER, AND KILL EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHO AIDED THEM!" Asterra shouted._  
_"Do not worry, your highness. I will find them, and destroy them." A cloaked figure replied._

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 10: A Worthy Blade Appears.**

Since Ryo, Navcase, and Rowen had returned from their rescue mission, Mia had been working frantically to solve the latest problem of even more people taking up residence in her house. The mansion, despite its many rooms, was going to run out of space soon if alien warriors did not stop showing up on her doorstep or brought home under the blanket statement of "Oh, Mia won't mind a few extra guests." Of all of them, Sai was the only one who made any attempt to pull his weight around the house. Rajei at least paid for his room, unlike the other boarders, although she did expect the Hoen soldiers to clean up after themselves. Primus seemed to be somewhat of an issue, he was yet another gastronomic black hole to attempt to feed like Kento, although Primus attributed his appetite to super-soldier modifications rather than having an extreme love of eating. At the very least, he was original. His silvery hair would have indicated that he was another Miraju, but he and Rajei both explained that having natural angelic wings, that unlike Rajei's or the other Hoen, could not be dismissed when not necessary, and indicated his race as Esperian, who, at least from what Primus explained, lived on a very distant world and made their way to other worlds to appoint themselves official or unofficial guardians of that world. Even stranger was Primus' insistence that his people could survive in space without any protection for up to a few days before they needed to get out of the vacuum.

Garthis was another story. He was a Sensharan, yet another weird alien people who looked like machines, but Garthis insisted that they were not, citing some cryptic explanation that they were both and neither. Because of this weird dual nature, he explained, they did not need to eat to survive, and did not tire easily, but on a more important note, they were almost completely immune to psionics, a plus when dealing with the Miraju. It was this unusual face that kept the twilight inhabitants from intimidating them and forcing them to accept Asterra as their god and ruler. That and a little retaliatory strike with Hoen backup put the two races on Asterra's badder side.

Thanks to Rowen, the gang had cracked the Hoen language, discovering its strange similarities to their own, and explaining how to alter their pronunciation of Japanese from a native speaker to that of a foreign one. At least now Rajei would not have to work as hard to translate for them.

But all was not as well up in space on Asterra's flagship. The evil one was furious that he was now not only without the Prime Minister, a key bargaining chip, he was also now short one Hoen Champion, which he needed if he hoped to extract the secret of Rajei's longevity. As long as he was practically classified as an undead, he was nearly indestructible but highly vulnerable to a few key things, particularly wood, silver, and sunlight. Extracting Rajei's Hoen secrets, which had to be within him considering the average Hoen had shown no trace of it, would take away his need to feed on life force all the time. The only problem lay in who exactly to send to get back Rajei. The Dark Rounin had succeeded before, but one, Illandere, was holding up their operations, insisting on ensuring that her pet project was in working order first. On top of that, the Dark Rounin reported directly to the Supreme Mage Lord, and Asterra had little to no say in what they did.

So, to deal with this problem on his own, he would need to utilize the aid of one of his best warriors: Kiwham. Trained in the art of weapons by the High Lord in charge of magical weapon creation, a skilled fighter in his own right, Kiwham had a successful track record in dealing with foes that failed to go down easily, and although taking this mission might cost him his perfect record, he had to take that chance.

Climbing aboard his personal ship, tricked out to no end, he departed for Earth, but making a quick stop over at the ship of High Lord Ayosuf, to get some info on these three that had caused the Miraju Empire such problems.  
"You have almost NOTHING on these people?" was Kiwham's answer when he inquired about the opposition they were having on Earth.

"That's correct. Although we do know that this one" An image of Navcase fighting the Mage Officers from before came up on screen, "Is some sort of swordsman."  
"Hmm...I recognize the other sword he has. The dark sword, Kurosaki. My master made it. As I recall, the weapon was given to Platoon Leader Jata. I don't even know why my master even bothers making such masterpieces when they are wasted on fighters that can not unleash the full potential of the weapons he makes." Kiwham explained. "This one seems to have figured it out." he pointed out, as Navcase unleashed the darkness field of the blade in the archived footage.

"I am not sure about the other two, but this one I will enjoy taking down." Kiwham thought to himself.

Unbeknownst to our now numerous heroes, Kiwham boarded his ship and began his descent to Earth.

Back at the mansion, Primus proceeded to fill our heroes moreso as to what was going on light years away.

"As Rajei most likely has already explained, the Hoen have been fighting off the Miraju and their minions for quite some time. Their methods of planetary dominance revolve around sending down missionary types to proclaim the greatness of Asterra, and then from there, see the inhabitants reaction. Refusing to accept him as their god involves an "Act" an over the top display of magical fireworks and psychic suggestions."

"Needless to say, being somewhere in between, but at least partially mechanical, it didn't work. The Sensharan fought back." Garthis explained.

"A Hoen expedition had visited Sensharan some time ago. Although they never settle on already inhabited worlds, they make a point to let the inhabitants know that they'll come to the rescue should they need it. That is exactly what the Hoen did. Unfortunately, it was some time after that the Miraju learned of Rajei. More accurately, Asterra learned of Rajei." Garthis explained.

"Luckily, not all Miraju are bad, and especially do not want Asterra to become harder to kill, which will be the case if he manages to add Rajei's immortality to himself. What few Miraju there are opposed to this, are trying to keep that from happening." Rangu explained.

"Unfortunately, we lost contact with one of our allies, a Miraju named Sura. He has been upset at the treatment of many of the Miraju allies, and would prefer for them to have a larger role than cannon fodder. He also does not enjoy the thought of Asterra being nearly impossible to kill."

"We know where he is. We've got him up in the palace of the Heavens recovering from his last battle." Rowen explained.

"May we see him?" Primus asked. "He was going to give us more insight into Asterra's plans for Earth besides retrieving Rajei."  
"I'm sure that'll be all right with Amaterasu." Rowen replied.  
"Maybe you can talk her into picking up a little of the slack." Mia mumbled to herself.

Utilizing the only available portal in the area, the group warped their way into the Palace of the Heavens via the Isle of Mists, a location that was protected by both its nature and Hariel's Forgotten Souls, since the Shrine of Amaterasu there was a direct link to the palace itself. It was a back door that the group could not afford to keep unguarded.

Once in the Palace, the Hoen commandos made a beeline for the medical area, where Sura was doing much better than he had been earlier in their involvement. He was quite surprised when the commandos entered his room.

"Primus? What brings you to Earth?" Sura asked.  
"Our ride back to the base left early. We're stuck here pretty much until the scientists Asterra captured can make some more modifications to the _Kusanagi_ so that it can travel faster than light. They're also busy with some upgrades to the Ronin armors that the Dark Rounin destroyed." Primus explained.  
"And Rajei? Were the others able to rescue him?" Sura asked.  
"Yeah, we bumped into your new friends and got him out of there pretty quickly." Primus explained.  
"So, what did you find out?" Garthis asked.  
"Not too much. Same old same old. Asterra wants to capture Rajei so he can suck his powers away. And as far as I know, that little rescue mission probably angered him to no end and he's probably going to be on his way to Earth full force to punish everyone involved, including the Ronin. And I'm not sure that Earth can fend off a full invasion. We're going to need to get to the secret base and get more forces. In the meantime, we've got to fend off Asterra's attempts as best we can. Hopefully he'll send scouting parties before he sends a full fledged army." Sura explained.

"That would mean we need the _Kusanagi_." Rowen concluded.  
"But I doubt even your single ship could fend off an entire Miraju fleet." Primus explained.

"So where is this secret base?" Kento asked.  
"If we told you, it wouldn't be a secret. What we can tell you though, is that it's well outside Asterra's sphere of influence, where Hoen, Sensharan and Miraju dissidents are plotting the the demise of their undead leader."

"So how do we get there? You've said Asterra's pretty much ticked off at this fact and is more than likely gearing up for a massive invasion. But I'm guessing that the _Kusanagi_ isn't equipped for Faster than Light travel. It'll take forever to reach your secret base without it." Sai replied.  
"It's on the to-do list of the Hoen scientists you helped rescue. They're working at the moment to install one the best they can, although, no offense meant, Earth technology is, although close, still very far from Hoen levels."

"Great. What are we supposed to do, hitchhike to the secret base?" Kento asked in desperation.

At the mention of the idea, the Hoen in the room began to huddle, as if they were even considering hitchhiking all the way to the secret base.

"Geez, I was kidding." Kento replied.

"Still, it will take time to hopefully equip the _Kusanagi_ with FTL capability so that we can reach our base." Primus replied.

"There's no way you can call really long distance and ask for a ship to come pick you guys up, is there?" Sage asked.  
"No, we're too far out from Suanapolla or even Sensharan to accomplish that. The communications equipment in the ship requires power, which unfortunately, we don't have. The transport needs to be within range of a Hoen ship in order to draw power from its core, thus powering our own craft. We have a small backup power supply, but that's probably close to drained as well. That and the communications on it aren't long range." Rangu added.  
"So you guys are pretty much stuck here? Sai asked.  
"Not unless Ms. Jishou and the Hoen scientists you rescued manage to install Faster than Light capability on the _Kusanagi_." Primus explained.  
"Well, is there anything we can do to help?" Rowen asked.  
"Not unless you know where we can steal parts for an actual hyperdrive." Garthis answered.

The heroes hung their heads in response to that question.

"It's okay Rowen, that means I can spend more time with you!" Rangu exclaimed.

The Ronin of Strata was taken aback by this comment, not sure what to think. If she was coming on to him, then he was going to have tons of problems when and if Ayame and Ayako got back.

Meanwhile, a larger threat was looming on the horizon, Kiwham closed in on Earth, ready to capture or kill Navcase and the others.

The still established small Miraju camp watched patiently as Kiwham's ship touched down and the warrior made his way out. Well built, clad in battle armor, and well equipped with various weapons, which seemed to be limited to a claymore and battle axe slung on his back, a pair of katana at his left waist, a knife clipped to his leg, and to his right waist was a rapier. Mage Lord Ramito and his remaining subordinates came to greet the Royal Guard sent to deal with the problems at hand.

"Kiwham. I see His Eminence is not taking any chances." Ramito replied, knowing the reputation Kiwham had with dealing with targets.  
"Yes. Now where can I find their master swordsman?" Kiwham asked.  
"We're not exactly sure. There's a facility where the Hoen Champion was being kept, that might be a worthwhile place to start." Ramito explained.

Kiwham took to the air and began combing the city for something, anything that would locate or lure out Navcase, but also following the directions given to him by Ramito to Kinjiro's. After flying a few blocks, he had arrived. Setting down on the ground, descending slowly so he could get an idea of what he was up against, and for someone with several bladed weapons a firearms, it was not going to be pretty. Kiwham thought to himself that perhaps he should have brought along his ship. As he touched down, it was quickly concluded that he was from the Miraju as the FireStorm wall went up in no time flat as defensive weaponry came online, all aimed at him. Kiwham wasted no time bringing out his claymore.

"Shield me, Stelryn!" he commanded, as an energy barrier came up seconds before the weapons were to hit him.

"That barrier is going to keep me out, fortunately, I have something for that." he thought to himself as he reached for his dagger.

"Break through, Samia!" he commanded, as a red energy enveloped his dagger and he flung the weapon at the FireStorm defense, which shockingly popped it like a bubble. Their barrier destroyed, the troops began to move in and continue to fire on him, but his barrier from the claymore did a spectacular job of stopping their attacks.

Up at the palace, Amaterasu, Sura, Garthis, and Primus were going over their options when Ms. Jishou came in with a call.

"Osaki is under attack by a man with several blades, nothing we do seems to be hitting him, but strangely, he's not engaging. Wait a minute, he's saying something."

"Where are the ones that attacked the flagship, and freed our prisoners? I've come to challenge them!" Kiwham shouted.  
"What did he say Sura?" Amaterasu asked.

"He's here to deal with Ryo and Navcase. And if he's here, it's not a good thing. His name is Kiwham, last I heard he was apprenticed to the High Mage Lord in charge of making our weapons. He's one of the few Miraju that can actually wield a sword effectively. We must be cautious." Sura explained.  
"I'll send for Navcase." Amaterasu replied.

The Sword of Heaven was called upon, and briefed on the situation at hand.

"Navcase, know full well that Kiwham is beyond any other Miraju you've faced to date. He is a Royal Guard, and is charged with guarding the most important of Miraju officials. That, and he knows something about the weapons that no others seem to know besides him and the High Lord he reports to." Sura cautioned.  
"I'll do what I can. If what he seeks is to face a worthy opponent, and to deal with those who he has been sent to eliminate, then I must go." Navcase said, heading off.

"Good luck, my Sword of Heaven, and be careful." Amaterasu replied. Navcase nodded and headed off.

Since time was of the essence, Amaterasu opened a portal directly to the interior of Osaki. Navcase arrived on the scene, and stepped outside, where the energy blasts and bullets were still flying at Kiwham, as Navcase stepped forward, bringing out his sword.

"It's you. You're one of the three that found their way to the dropship to free the Hoen champion." Kiwham said telepathically.

Navcase nodded.

"I'm sure you're aware that there are few Miraju that are good enough fighters to take on people like us. But you're no match for all of my weapons. Shall we begin?" Kiwham asked.

He put away his claymore, and unsheathed his twin katana, taking off towards Navcase as he managed to parry one attack but was left open for the other strike with his other sword. Navcase was barely able to sidestep the attack, as Kiwham made another strike, this time, Navcase was wise to bring out his other sword for help. Kiwham immediately recognized it as being named Kurosaki, but Navcase would not know that.

Now both armed with two blades, the fight continued as strikes were parried from both fighters, as they both tried to land successful hits on each other. Navcase swung at Kiwham, having one blade blocked, and then the other, having the Sword of Heaven right where he wanted him.

"Blow him away, Maghtroth!" Kiwham shouted to his swords as a powerful gust of wind came out of nowhere and pushed Navcase in the opposite direction, barely slamming into a wall, but quickly reacting and kicking off it, making his way back towards Kiwham at high speed, his twin blades positioned out in front of him.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu...Kuzu Ryu Sen!" Navcase shouted, using his energy to streak at warp speed into Kiwham, hitting him 18 times due to his double swords and at the same time forcing him backwards.

As he landed from the attack, Navcase internally cursed himself for going to his best moves so early on in the fight. This would certainly be a lengthy battle, considering the skill of both fighters, and Kiwham's numerous blades.

"Is that all you have, swordsman? Because I have much more." Kiwham said telepathically.

Putting away his twin katana, he reached next for his battle-ax, which with great strength he hurled at Navcase, who quickly dodged the attack and made his way for Kiwham for another strike, his swords at the ready.

"Return, Rydrad!" he shouted. In answer, the battle-ax swung around and made its way back towards Navcase! Kiwham had his hand positioned to guide the heavy weapon back to him, so it would take the best route to taking out Navcase. Luckily, it did not seem the weapon homed in on energy signatures, so Navcase quickly sidestepped, spinning around with Ryu Kan Sen, only to have Kiwham reach his hand in back and call on the power of his claymore, putting up a barrier to keep Navcase from connecting, then ducking, forcing Navcase to take cover as well as the axe came flying over his head and sticking into a wall. Kiwham ordered his axe to return to him once again, as it jarred itself free and back to his hand, only to chuck it at Navcase again, trying to hit him a second time, but he was able to get clear once again, further dodging after he called it back to try and hit Navcase on the return trip. Navcase again was able to leap out of the way of his battle-ax.

Recovering the thrown weapon, Kiwham put it away as well, and returned to using his katana, sending wind gusts flying at Navcase, who managed to dodge most of them, but was hit by a few. Getting to his feet, he had a good feeling that a certain technique he picked up from watching Ayako's anime archives would be quite useful right about now.

Navcase sheathed his other sword, the one known to Kiwham as Kurosaki, and stood ready with his holy sword to intercept the wind, pushing his power skyward in hopes that Kiwham would respond likewise. The wind blast flew at the hero, as he hoped and hoped that a scar would form for him to retaliate with. But unfortunately, one did not and Navcase was once again knocked for a loop.

"Let's see, the axe returns at his command, the katana unleash wind blasts, he was using the claymore before to make a barrier, that leaves the dagger and the rapier." Navcase thought to himself, as he put up his protection spell in order to buy him some thinking time.

"There is no barrier my dagger cannot penetrate. BREAK THROUGH, Samia!" he shouted, tossing the weapon at Navcase and taking out his shield with a single hit.

"Okay, the dagger breaks down barriers, which leaves the rapier..." Navcase thought to himself.  
"Ah yes. My rapier. I'm sorry, but you haven't proved that you can handle it. I expected a bit more from the Sword of Heaven. Perhaps the others I seek will be more of a challenge. I request only one thing; grow stronger. Once you do, maybe you'll face my rapier." Kiwham communicated telepathically.

With that, he sheathed his swords and flew off once again, leaving Navcase to ponder his request.

Back at the Palace, Navcase reported his latest confrontation with Kiwham to Amaterasu.

"Geez, does that bastard have enough weapons?" Yuri exclaimed in her usual tone.  
"But as I explained Miss Yuri, he did not use all seven of his weapons. He neglected to draw his rapier, nor would he tell me what it did. So I suspect that must be his most powerful weapon." Navcase explained.  
"But what could it do?" Ran wondered.  
"Whatever it could do, if he had used it we'd be short one Seishi." Yuri concluded.  
"You won't mention this to Yuriko, will you?" Navcase asked.  
"No Navcase. When you feel the time is right, you should tell her yourself." Amaterasu explained.

**Kiwham Strikes again...**

NEXT EPISODE:

NAVCASE: Well, it seems that our little rescue operation has attracted more attention than before from the Miraju, that their leader has sent one of his best warriors to eliminate us. But am I merely the first target, or am I the only one he is interested in dispatching? Find out in the next chapter of Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; The Seven-Way Slayer Strikes Again. Do not miss it.


	11. The Seven Way Slayer Strikes Again

**Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War**  
**Chapter 11: The Seven-Way Slayer Strikes Again**

Kiwham returned to the Miraju camp, where all assembled were eager to learn of his success.

"They're not destroyed?" Ramito gasped when Kiwham told him the bad news. "The emperor is not going to like this."  
"Only one of them was even there. It'll take more time to take down all of them. That and I know little about the other three." Kiwham explained.  
"We believe the one with the twin cannons is a leader of sorts, but the good news is the female has no powers whatsoever, but she does pilot mobile armors." Ramito informed him.  
"What about the final target?" Kiwham asked.  
"We think he has fire powers of some sort." Ramito explained.  
"I can defeat them, I'll just need to study them a bit more." Kiwham explained.  
"You'd better do it soon. Asterra has plenty of other Royal Guard to handle the situation. That, and it won't be long before the Dark Rounin decide to butt in."  
"I'm confident it can be done before others come to do it for me." Kiwham answered.

Kiwham returned to his ship, and had his ship access any and all data it could on Ryo, Rowen, and Lt. Enzeru. If there was an easy way to stop them, he had to find it fast, otherwise, as Ramito had warned, other Royal Guards would come to do the job themselves, or far worse, the Dark Rounin would come and butt in. The last thing he needed was their interference. He'd have to work fast.

His ship's computer finished its request and somehow it had managed to gather information on the other three. As Ramito had said, one of them had fire powers. Kiwham, without any fire techniques or weapons, would be at a disadvantage, however, he could always try to blow out the flames with his katana. He could also hope that his barrier stood up to the flames. His only other option was his rapier, but that was a last resort if the other weapons could not stop his target.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Navcase had returned after his unsuccessful confrontation with Kiwham. These stronger Miraju were going to be a problem, and hopefully Amasterasu would have a solution. Checking her usual chambers, the Sun Goddess was nowhere to be found. As he continued to search, he spied Ran and Yuri out by the pool.

"Have either of you seen your mother?" Navcase asked.  
"Nope." Ran reported.  
"That's odd for her Eminence to not be around with all that's going on. Are you sure?" Navcase asked again.  
"Positive. Either that or she's in her meditation room; she won't even let us in there usually."  
"I see. If you should run into your mother before I do, would you tell her I am looking for her?"  
"No problem Navcase." Ran replied.

_Planet Earth: Palace of the Heavens_

Navcase continued checking through the palace for anyone else of importance that he could speak with. The Sword of Heaven was sure that Yuri and Ran would pass the message on to Amaterasu when they saw her next, but with a multi-bladed threat like Kiwham on the loose, someone important would have to be told soon. He soon located Rajei, Primus, and Garthis, who were also confused by Amaterasu's abrupt disappearance.

"Navcase, do you know anything about where Amaterasu is at the moment?" Rajei asked.  
"No, I'm in the same boat as you three are. But as long as I have your attention, have you heard of a Miraju named Kiwham?"

The three gasped in shock at the name. Apparently they had, and Navcase, after facing the guy, had some idea of his reputation.

"You faced the Seven-Way Slayer and survived to tell about it?" Garthis exclaimed in disbelief.  
"No, he only tried to slay me six ways." Navcase replied, attempting to joke about the situation. The other three were not amused.  
"Kiwham is one of Asterra's most prestigious Royal Guards. It's a wonder he hasn't sent him to deal with me." Rajei explained.

"He said he hoped that the others would be more of a challenge. And what is so special about his rapier?" Navcase asked.  
"Our understanding of Kiwham is that he is apprenticed to the Miraju High Lord in charge of creating their rune weapons. The danger he poses is that he seems to know something about them that other Miraju don't."  
"When I fought him, he called his weapons by name, and they unleashed special powers like my own sword." Navcase explained.  
"That confirms what we've heard about him." Garthis replied. "Naming his weapons must grant them some kind of powers."  
"Unless the powers are there to begin with and calling out a name for the weapon activates them." Primus interjected.  
"But that still doesn't tell me what's so special about his rapier." Navcase asked.  
"Well, we know it's his most powerful weapon, but as for what's so special about it, there's no one who could tell you; everyone who's had the privilege to get him to draw his rapier has perished." Primus explained.  
"Then I should consider myself lucky that he didn't think me worthy of it." Navcase replied.  
"You said that he mentioned 'others'?" Garthis asked.  
"Yes, yes he did. He said that he hoped the others would be more worthy opponents than I was." Navcase replied.  
"Did he happen to say how many others he was going to be fighting?" Garthis asked.  
"No, unfortunately. He didn't make many telepathic transmissions." Navcase answered.  
"Well, we know he's going to be here for a little while longer, so the most we can do unfortunately, is wait for him to attack again. We might be able to find a pattern or something if he does." Primus answered.

Back at the mansion, Ryo was being called out by a voice in his head.

"Fight me. Come here and fight me."

Ryo saw a glimpse of a clearing in his head, and guessed that was where whomever the voice belonged to wanted to fight him. The samurai headed for the door, only to be stopped by Rowen.  
"Where you going man?" Rowen asked.  
"Voice in my head. Someone wants to fight me." Ryo replied.

"Oh." Was Rowen's reply. Something wasn't right here, he could tell. But Ryo had his duty as Seishi, not answering the challenge would brand him a coward in whomever's eyes it was that called him out. "Need some backup?"

Ryo wished he could say yes, but he figured his challenger wanted him to come alone.

"I think this guy might want me to come alone. But if I'm not back in an hour, track me down with the transponder on the armor and bail me out."

"Will do. Good luck." Rowen replied.  
"Yeah, I'm going to need it."

With that, Ryo armored up and flew to the desired location, contemplating what was going on here. Who was calling him out in the first place? Right now, the Miraju were pretty ticked at them for rescuing not only Asterra's future, but also his bargaining chip over the Hoen, as well as individuals who would be able to do whatever it was that would grant him Rajei's powers. But Ryo was somewhat prepared. He had his Seishi powers, and his Armor of White Reflection if things really got dicey.

Looking below, Ryo spotted the battle site. A preliminary scan showed not one, but seven life signs. Seven? That was strange. Did he really have to fight off seven warriors? If that was the case, only one of them, probably their commander, had made the challenge. He debated leaving his armor on, if this was really the case. But he was a Seishi, powerful as a regular Ronin in armor. He could do this. Besides, he had an hour before Rowen would guess things had gone south and call in the armored cavalry. He set down and doffed his armor, leaving only his Seishi clothes. His opponent or opponents must have been watching him.

"Hello? I'm here, just like you asked. What do you want with us?"

A voice entered Ryo's head.

"I want to destroy you for ruining my master's plans. You and the other two. I sincerely hope you're more of a challenge than the last one." Kiwham replied.

"I'll see what I can do." Ryo replied, hoping that he could.

Kiwham emerged from behind a tree, armed to the teeth and definitely ready to do battle.

"Oh, so there's only one of you. I scanned seven, so the others are around here somewhere." Ryo thought.

"No, there is only me. But unlike other Miraju, I have awakened the spirits within my swords, so they fight by my side. Allow me to demonstrate." Kiwham replied, drawing his twin katana. Ryo had no clue what Kiwham was up to, at least until he crossed the two blades in front of him and shouted something in Miraju.

"Blow him away, Maghtroth!" Kiwham shouted, swinging his swords, which sent out a powerful gust of wind out that knocked Ryo away. He suddenly closed the distance in no time flat and swung twice at Ryo, who barely dodged the twin swings, before jumping back.

"Tsubasa no Hi, Hi Jin!" Ryo shouted, as his flame wings appeared and Ryo reached back for them, as they turned into blades of solid flame.

"Let's see how you like these puppies! Ryo shouted, swinging at Kiwham, who blocked both swings, and shouted again in Miraju, as Ryo again went flying back with a single swing of his blades.  
"That all you got pal? Tsubasa no Hi! Testumaki En!" Ryo shouted, as his wings swung in front of him, turning into a tornado of flame that went barreling towards Kiwham. The Miraju sidestepped in a blur, evading the flame tornado easily. He sheathed the swords and drew the claymore on his back, once again closing the distance between he and Ryo in a matter of seconds, swinging the sword in a sideways swipe, which Ryo blocked with his flame swords, but still pushing him backwards. Ryo leapt into the air, his wings stretching out much larger than he was.

"Tsubasa no Hi, Renzoku Dan En!" Ryo shouted as his hands glowed and he began raining fireballs down on Kiwham, his outstretched wings slowly but surely returning to a more normal size.

"Shield me, Stelryn!" Kiwham shouted, driving the tip of the claymore into the ground as a barrier went up around him, protecting him from most of the raining fireballs.

"Damn, does this guy have a sword for every occasion?" Ryo thought as Kiwham put away the claymore and reached for his battle axe.

"Yes, actually." Kiwham replied mentally as he hurled the axe skyward at Ryo, who barely dodged out of the way.

"Ha! Missed me." Ryo replied out loud.

"Kiwham probably understood the taunt from the intonation of Ryo's voice, as he shouted in Miraju, "Return, Rydrad!, as the battleaxe made its way back towards his outstretched hand, as Ryo again barely missed being sliced in half.

"Let's see you try and get through this! Tsubasa no Hi, Kekkai En!" Ryo exclaimed, as his wings surrounded him, forming a shield.

"Shields are no match for my dagger. Break through, Samia!" Kiwham shouted, sending the dagger flying at Ryo, which popped his flame barrier as if it was a bubble.

Up in the air, Ryo was trying to contemplate his options. If he tried projectiles again, Kiwham would break out his claymore and shield himself. He could always go back to his katana and try to blow him away, but Ryo could always try and dodge. He could throw his axe all day and never actually hit Ryo, but there was the potential for it. The long story short was his fire attacks weren't working. Now seemed like a good time to break out the armor.

"ARMOR OF WHITE REFLECTION!" Ryo shouted, as a ring appeared above his head, then traveled down his body to his legs, putting on his sub-armor suit, then the various pieces of his armor flew in and attached themselves.

"Time for round two buddy!" Ryo replied as he reached under his shoulder armor and drew his beam sabers, then rocketed toward his opponent.

_Back at Mia's..._

"What is it, Anubis?" Rowen asked.  
"Ryo has activated White Reflection. I can sense it."  
"Time to go get him?" Rowen asked.

Anubis, having lived for a few centuries, understood the ramifications of interfering in a fight. But if Ryo had gotten himself into a situation he wouldn't come up on top from, it was probably wise to go rescue him.

Just then, the bathroom mirror began to ring. The two rushed into the nearest one to them and found Navcase, Primus, and Garthis peering out at them. Ran just happened to be there, presumably making the connection.

"Where is Ryo?" Navcase asked.  
"He went out to fight someone, can we take a message?" Rowen asked.  
"This is serious. We just figured out what Kiwham's up to. He's from the Royal Guard, meaning he's under Asterra's direct control, unlike the Dark Rounin who are working for the Supreme Mage Lord."  
"Meaning?" Anubis asked.  
"Meaning, Asterra as I can easily guess, is not too happy about what our combined forces did recently." Garthis explained.  
"Kiwham's after the four of us! Navcase, Ryo, Lt. Enzeru and myself!" Rowen concluded.  
"Garthis is going with some of our remaining soldiers to help reinforce the Lieutenant's location. In the meantime, go get Ryo, now!" Primus ordered.

Anubis and Rowen nodded to each other, and proceeded to scour the house in search of the others.

Meanwhile, Ryo's attempts to hold back Kiwham with his Vulcans and auto-cannons was only being dodged or shielded against. There was not much he could do, since he needed Saber Strike to bring him the Swords of Light, so his only real option was to use the twin buster rifles. The weapon appeared in front of him, as he grabbed onto the grips and pointed it downward at Kiwham.

"Try these on for size!" Ryo shouted, aiming his super-weapon towards the target and firing away. Kiwham wasted no time going for the claymore.

"Shield me, Stelryn!" Kiwham shouted as the white hot beam of utter destruction slammed into his shield, causing it to start to crack, before the shield actually broke, presumably exposing Kiwham to the full force of the blast.

"Did I get him?" Ryo thought to himself.

The only problem with thinking out loud was that Miraju could listen in.

"No, you didn't. Unlike other Miraju, I can divert my inner strength, what you call Chi, to my body as well as my mind. So I dodged after my shield broke. Perhaps you're going to force me to use this after all...Kiwham said telepathically as he reached for his rapier, only to be blasted out of nowhere by incoming fire!

"Rowen! You got here just in time!"  
"Told ya I'd come bail you out! We'll keep him pinned down while you take off!"

Rowen and the others opened fire with everything they had, as some minor help arrived from Rangu flying the _Phantom_ _Express_ and several Hoen troops with their blaster rifles trained on Kiwham, firing almost non-stop as Ryo flew up and got on board, as Rangu swung the ship around and headed back to the house as the other Ronin worked their way into the cargo bay.

"Thanks for the lift Rangu!" Rowen asked.  
"No problem sweetie! All right everyone, back to the house!"

The group gathered in the living room to discuss the latest situation.

"Well, we definitely know we're going to be in trouble if Kiwham keeps coming after us like this." Ryo said.  
"Yeah, so maybe we have to take the fight to him. He wants you, me, Navcase, and Lt. Enzeru, so all we need to do is lure him out so we can take him out right then and there." Rowen suggested.  
"That sounds like a plan, although I don't think Asterra's going to leave until he has Rajei, and he'll keep sending down his best guys until he does." Ryo said.  
"How is the progress on the hyperdrive coming?" Anubis asked.  
"Ms. Jishou thinks it'll still be quite a few days. We're not as advanced as Sunapolla, so they're doing the best they can with what they have." Rowen replied.  
"Perhaps Houji would have the parts we need?" Anubis suggested.  
"Maybe, Drakka only knows what he was working on in secret during the fight with Drakka." Rowen replied.  
"The last time we broke in there, we had to leave most of Lt. Enzeru's mecha behind, they were too big to fit in there."  
"Well now we have Primus and Garthis, they'd be able to sneak in there with no problems at all in their matte black body armor." Ryo suggested.  
"Perfect! We'll let them borrow the _Phantom Express_, Rangu figured out how to pilot it. Now all we need to do is contact Primus and Garthis and have them get their team together for the second break-in." Rowen said.

While Amaterasu was still MIA, Primus was conferring with Ryo on the attack plan over the phone.

"So infiltration, huh? Yeah, we can do that. What exactly are we looking for?" Primus asked.  
"Parts for a hyperdrive Otoantou might have been working on under our noses. Ms. Jishou's team along with the Hoen scientists you rescued will probably have an easier time if we find them, although I don't doubt they can succeed if we give them enough time." Rowen explained.  
"Understood. We'll get things set on our end, and rendezvous with Rangu at Osaki, and from there proceed to Otoantou. We only have a few hours before nightfall. You mentioned that last time you were there his machines attacked you when they were supposed to be off?" Primus asked.  
"Yeah. You guys equipped for them?" Rowen asked.  
"We have a rocket launcher left over, and anti-armor charges for our Tri-rifles, but we may have to overstock those for this situation. Sensharan are very good at carrying lots of gear, but the two of us have our rocket launchers, plus our blasters are pretty versatile, should put a dent in those machines if we need them to. All right, we need to get ready to go, we'll keep in contact throughout."

As Primus went off to find the rest of his team and brief them on the mission at hand, Amaterasu finally emerged from her meditation room.

"Oh, there you are. Navcase and pretty much everyone else here has been looking all over for you. What was so important that you had to confine yourself in there so long?" he asked.

Amaterasu was somewhat out of it, having completed an astral projection in an attempt to locate her twin daughters and the others accompanying them, but was unsuccessful.

"I was trying to locate Sakura, Ayame and the others, but was unsuccessful at it. I'm sure they are fine, wherever or whenever they may be, but I am still worried about them. Aside from the loss of Ayame and Sakura, along with Naru and Ayako, who were simply along for the ride, we are also without Kinjiro's expertise and technological prowess. He has left us in very capable hands with Ms. Jishou, but she can only do so much. Perhaps if he was here with Ayame, we would have defeated Asterra by now."  
"Lady Amaterasu, it's not wise to concern yourself with matters beyond your control. My team and I are headed for Otoantou shortly to see if we can find any parts Houji might have left behind to put together a FTL system for the _Kusanagi_. I can't worry myself with what the lab might throw at us or if the parts are there at all. All I can do is my mission, and on a mission, my number one priority is to get everyone back alive. There will be other missions, but Hoen SpecOps are harder to replace than regular troops, so it is vital that we all get back in one piece. Fortunately, the race that I have chosen to protect are very resilient, even without their technology. So, rather than consuming yourself with when or if the others return home, concern yourself with making sure they have a home to return to. I hope that eases your mind, but I unfortunately must be going now."

Primus saluted, and the Sun Goddess returned his gesture as he headed off to brief his soldiers on the mission at hand.

"Sakura, Ayame...all of you, stay safe, wherever you are. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that you have a world to come home to." Amaterasu vowed to herself.

**All Hoen SpecOps, prepare for departure...**

NEXT EPISODE:

PRIMUS: Allow me to brief you on our next episode. As you know, my team is setting out to ascertain the existence of any miscellaneous parts that Houji Otoantou may have left behind at his previous location.  
RANGU: But will they find anything?  
PRIMUS: Warrant Officer Rangu, I was simply outlining the mission objectives.  
LT. ENZERU: With all due respect sir, I don't think they covered chapter previews in your officer training. Permission to take it from here?  
PRIMUS: Permission granted, Proceed.  
LT. ENZERU: In the next chapter, the Hoen SpecOps go to look for parts for a FTL drive at Otoantou Industries. With their more advanced technology, can they succeed where my team failed?  
SGM. OKITA: Respectfully ma'am, most of our lack of success on that mission was because our machines were too large to fit through the front door.  
LT. ENZERU: Thank you, Sergeant Major. What's this, the Dark Rou...  
THE DARK ROUNIN: Next time on Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War; Return of the Dark Rounin. Don't miss it, or it won't be pretty.  
AMAYA: About as pretty as referring to Illy by her nickname alone...  
ILLANDERE: I TOLD YOU, DON'T CALL ME "ILLY!" *curses in Miraju and orders the preview to end*


	12. Return of the Dark Rounin

Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War  
Chapter 12: Return of the Dark Rounin

Night had fallen on Toyama, and although with their adversaries being inhabitants of a twilight world, the black ship they were in and the black armor that they wore left Garthis and Primus' team with very few options.

"Sirs, we're nearing the LZ now." Rangu answered.

"All right everyone, let's get ready. Activate your exoskeletons and begin final check on your weapons." Primus said.

"Yes Sir!" the soldiers answered as they donned their helmets and pushed buttons on their belt buckles, as nanites made their way outwards and traveled throughout their bodies, sealing their suits for combat.

"All right, once we're in range Primus and his group, along with Nanajin, Molop, Irako, and Achinai will disembark using their jet packs and land and gain entry through the East Entrance. Once we're on the ground, Aranomo, Marop, and the rest of you will come with me and gain access to the facility through the South Entrance. We have little to no idea what's waiting for us when we get inside. Then again, intel and weather are two things we can never trust. Rowen will be monitoring and guiding us from the transport since he's been here before, and because Warrant Officer Rangu insisted he come . . . " Garthis said, clearly not too thrilled that although Rowen did have prior knowledge of the place, he seemed to mostly be there because Rangu asked if he could come along. Rangu smiled at Rowen and nudged him on the shoulder a bit. She obviously was unaware that Ayame and Ayako were going to kill him, when or if they came back in the near future.

"Commander Primus, you can launch now." Rangu replied, opening the side hatch.  
"All-right Alpha Team, let's move out!" Primus ordered, as he himself leapt out and spread his wings, as the other men and women on his squad fired up their jet packs and followed him to the eastern side of the building before setting down and taking defensive positions.

Rangu closed the door and looked for a place to land by the South Entrance, finally finding a place to set down for Garthis' team to disembark as the hatch was opened again, and they made their way toward the doors, again taking positions around the door.

Back at the other entrance, Primus' team was standing by.

"Let's start this. Breach the door!" Primus ordered.

Three of his troopers got into position, as one of them set a charge on the door, as it was blasted open and a grenade was tossed into the room, as the three soldiers systematically entered the room, the first man in going left, the second going right, and the third heading down the middle.  
"All clear sir." One of the troopers reported after sweeping the immediate area.

"Okay, let's do this single file. Look around corners with your sights, not your eyes, we don't know what we're up against if anything. Nanajin, you're on point."

The dedicated sniper took the lead as the team moved forward, with a pair of troopers with Tri-rifles directly behind him in case he needed some additional firepower. He motioned for the entire group to form up behind him, as he proceeded forward, viewing the world through his scope at the lowest magnification he could get away with. A little way down the hall from where they entered, were a pair of doors.

"Look sir, doors." One of the regular troopers replied.  
"Okay, time for a little bang and clear. Irako, you with the Arc Caster and you, goes and takes care of the door on the left. Nanajin and you two, you've got the door on the right."

"Sir, doesn't look like a breach charge will work. This door looks very heavy." A trooper said.  
"Malop, you're on." Primus replied.  
"With pleasure sir." He replied. "The Genius of Demo is ready!"  
*"Geez, he's still calling himself that? I told you to be HUMBLE! And try not to use so much this time!"  
*"Hey, P for Plenty Sis." Malop replied.  
*"That's IF you don't have time to be precise! I don't see any hostiles around, DO YOU?"  
"Cut the chatter you two. Malop, blow the door already." Primus replied.

Malop set a more elaborate demo charge on his door and broke out his remote. Meanwhile, the other trio entered their room and found nothing.

"Clear!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Fire in the hole!" Malop shouted as everyone got clear and he pressed the button, blasting the armored door in front of them sky high.

"Do you think I used too much?" he wondered as the other team cleared their room.  
"Respectfully sir, this mission so far wouldn't need a SpecOps team to pull it off. The Ronin and their group could do it probably."  
"You're right. It's too quiet. Everyone watches each other's backs, but I have a bad feeling about this place."  
"What are we looking for anyway sir?" Irako asked.  
"Something that would potentially lead to a very top secret area. Presumably something that even multiple trips through the place would uncover."  
"So how do we find it?" Achinai asked.  
"Hopefully Suzaku's smiling on us today and our team or Garthis' gets lucky."

At the other entrance, Marop had just completed placing a detpack on the doors.

"We're good to go sir." Marop reported.  
"Okay, you, you, and you. Take breech positions and get ready." Garthis ordered, sending a trooper armed with an ARC caster and a pair of regular SpecOps to take positions around the door.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Garthis shouted, as Marop blasted the door to a smithereens and the three troops filed into the room.

"All Clear!" the lead troop reported. "It's dark in here. Very dark." One of the Tri-Rifle troops observed.  
"Well, the Ronin said no one's here at the moment. I'll take point. Aranomo, form up behind me, everyone else, follow the brevet list and form up accordingly. Turn on full spectrum enhancement." Garthis commanded, drawing his double-barreled pistols and leading the way as everyone except him and the sniper following him switched to night-vision. Him being a Sensharan and she being a former Miraju Royal Guard that defected, they didn't need it; both races could naturally see in total darkness quite well.

"Aranomo, do a teleempathy sweep. If there's anything with conscious thought around here, you'll find it."

Garthis raised his arm and bent it into an "L" with his hand closed into a fist, silently ordering the group to hold position. Meanwhile, their Miraju sniper began stretching her psionic feelers outward to see if she could pick up on anything.

"Nothing sir. Just random idle thought from the civilians on the planet. Sorry."  
"That's all right. I don't even think the Miraju are anywhere nearby, and they wouldn't really be looking for us." Garthis replied.

Unbeknownst to Garthis, the Dark Rounin's personal transport just happened to be in the area, hoping to find the ones Asterra wanted destroyed before Kiwham could. Just then, a series of sensors went off.

"Gotcha." Illandere smirked to herself.  
"What is it Illandere?" Alleth asked.  
"Sensors are picking up life forms near here. I don't think it's who we're looking for, but it might be worth looking into."  
"All right. Where are they?" Alleth asked.  
"They're in that building in front of us. Seems to be two groups of . . . nine?" Illandere gasped. "Hoen . . . "  
"Land on the roof. We're going in."  
"Good, and I just finished my alpha version of my battle armor off of that Hoen blueprint we stole a while back. And wouldn't you know, it needs a field test." Illandere replied.

The ship landed on the roof of Otouantou and all the Dark Rounin disembarked.

"Okay, how do we get in this place?" Amaya asked.  
"There we go. I'm not sure how these Earth doors open, but I'll have it cracked in no . . . "

Before she could finish her sentence, Pugnare had fired one of his arms' mounted plasma ejectors at it, blasting it to a smithereens.

"...time. Great job Pugnare, now they're gonna know someone else is here!" Illandere complained.  
"Sorry Illy." Pugnare apologized. "We needed to get in quickly."  
"AND DON'T CALL ME ILLY!" she shouted loudly.

Meanwhile . . .

"What was that?" Irako asked.  
"It sounded like an explosion." Achinai said.  
"Garthis, did your team just blow something?" Primus asked.  
"Negative, just the front door. Looks like we've got some company."  
"Okay everyone, stay on your toes. We've got to find those parts if they're here and get the hell outta here before whoever just blasted their way in here comes looking for us."

"We should try and find a terminal or something; it would give us a better idea of where to look I hope." Malop suggested.

"Detach." Irako commanded. At her word, her backpack unit unclipped and crawled down her back, then proceeded to skitter across the floor in front of them, Irako viewing the whole thing from her helmet visor.

"I figure we should know what's around the corner. Droids like this can be replaced; we're a bit tougher to do." She answered.

"See anything?" Primus asked.  
"Not yet sir. But the hall breaks off in two directions, which way?" she asked.  
"We'll try left first. If it doesn't work, we double back and try the other way." Primus replied.

The droid skittered down the hall toward the left, stopping every few feet for the team to catch up before heading down the hall again for more recon. Eventually Alpha Team came across a locked door with alien(well, alien to them) writing across it.

"Wonder what's in there." Achinai wondered.  
"Irako, send the feed from your droid to Rowen and Rangu, maybe he can tell us what it says."

A few minutes later, the commandos had an answer.

"It says 'Restricted Area: Authorized Personnel Only'" Irako informed the team.  
"There might be a terminal in there that I can access." Malop replied.  
"Okay, let's blast this door down. Irako, Nanajin, you get into sniper range and get ready; this Houji person might have left some surprises for us."

Malop set another detpack and set it off, blowing yet another door to kingdom come, as the snipers scanned the room for anything, finding nothing but a terminal.

"Jackpot. Time to see if we can get some answers about this place, or maybe a floor plan."

Malop proceeded over to the terminal, clipping his rifle to his leg as he began typing away, in hopes of finding something, but it wasn't going very fast because he had to send images to Rowen of each screen to know what they said before he could proceed.

Meanwhile, Garthis' team was having a similar uneventful trip through Houji's facility. Even with his own Sensharan abilities and Aranomo's own Miraju psi-powers, the place that they were told was empty was turning out to be the actual truth. It was one of those one in a million times the intel was actually right about something.

*"Garthis, this is Primus. We've managed to find ourselves a terminal and Malop was able to hack ourselves a floor plan. Standby, it'll be on your visors in a second."

Almost instantly, a wire-mesh model of the facility was up on everyone's HUD, an important breakthrough in the exploration of the facility.

"It's a start, any best guess as to where FTL parts would be if they're actually here?" Garthis asked.  
"Malop's still trying on that one. We'll keep you posted if we get any new info. Right now we've taken up defensive formation in the control room in case whoever blasted their way in here comes looking for us. This is the only terminal on this floor, so they'd have to come here to try and use it, unless there's one on the upper level. We'll see what we can do about guiding your team from here." Primus answered.

*"Copy that." Garthis replied, as his own team headed forward into the facility. They came to an intersection when they heard from Malop.

*"Sir, there's an elevator not far from your current position. If you follow it down, maybe, that's where the FTL parts might be hidden."  
*"Understood. Which way?" Garthis asked.  
*"Take a right, then another right at the next intersection, and then take your first left and you'll be there. I'll work on getting information on the next level down."

Garthis motioned for his team to move forward, and proceeded toward the elevator.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the improvised entry from the Dark Rounin had them near the top of the very elevator Garthis was trying to access.

"Good, this will get us somewhere. If I can find the control room in this place then I can know where things are and see if there's anything leftover that we can use on the other intruders." Illandere replied, touching her hand to the keypad and concentrating, quickly figuring out how it worked.

"Into the elevator, we're going down." Alleth replied.

Back on the lower level, Garthis was attempting to get the elevator, but it apparently was on the upper level, on its way down. That wasn't good.

"Everyone, take cover the best you can. We've got company!"

The elevator doors opened and the Hoen commandos opened fire, hoping to quickly kill whatever was in there.

"Oh great. It's the Dark Rounin!" Aranomo exclaimed.  
"Fall back! Fall Back!" Garthis shouted, drawing his twin double-barreled pistols and firing away, hoping to do at least some damage to the special team.

*"Primus, we've got a serious problem here. The Dark Rounin just ambushed us out of the elevator. We need a way to safety fast!" Garthis replied, firing more shots as he backpedaled, as Amaya used her chemical shot, denting and melting the walls around them as they retreated.

A stray blast hit Aranomo, but her Royal Guard skin lessened much of the intensity of the attack.

"I'm fine. Let's just get to that control room and make our stand there."  
"Marop, get on the comm and see if you can reach Rangu, we're going to need some heavier artillery if we want to get out of here alive." Garthis ordered.

On the plus side, the halls were narrow, so most of the Dark Rounin would have to take care not to hit their teammates when firing at their enemy. The downside was that Garthis and his team had the same problem.

"Anyone have any bright ideas?" Aranomo asked.  
"Just this." Marop replied, setting a demo charge on two of the walls of the hallway they'd fallen back in.

"Get clear! FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Garthis shouted as Marop detonated them, forming an improvised roadblock.

"That should hold them for a little while." Marop replied. *"Rangu, Rowen, can you hear me? We're going to need some backup here. The Dark Rounin ambushed us, we need someone to keep them busy so we can go see if there's an FTL drive in this place or not." Marop replied.  
*"Actually Sis there is one, I just checked the base's inventory."  
*"Okay, there is one, and we seriously need to find it first otherwise we're gonna be somewhat screwed."  
*"I'll make a few calls." Rowen replied.

On the other side of the blockade, the Dark Rounin were furious.

"This is going to take forever to get through!" Illandere shouted.

"Pugnare, do you think you can clear through this?" Alleth asked.  
"Quite positive." Pugnare replied, aiming his arm blasters at the wall and opening fire.

Back at the mansion, Ryo and Anubis got the call from Rowen.

"We're on our way. Think you can get Navcase in on this?" Ryo asked.  
*"Yuriko's got him occupied with pre-baby stuff. Yuri and Suiren said they'd go though. Ran's being a buffer between Navcase and Yuriko at the moment."  
"Okay, that should be enough, I guess." "There are only four of us, and six of them? Not very good odds." Anubis commented.  
"You guys going out to kick some ass?" Kento asked. "Count me in."  
"Surien's going to be there? I'm coming too. Besides, these guys hate light, and I've got an ample supply." Sage added.  
*"We'll meet the girls near the entrance Primus and his team came in through. Ryo out." He replied.

Meanwhile, Malop was busy with his fusion cutter, while another soldier worked to lock the door so that he could weld it shut. The impromptu barrier that Garthis made would only hold the Dark Rounin back so long.

*"Primus, have you found another way down to the lower levels? We need that FTL system!"  
*"We'll get right on that, right now we're sealing the room we're in to slow the Dark Rounin down."  
*"Well, I'm not sure how long that wall we blasted down is going to hold them. I'd personally like to have a plan plotted out before they get that far."

*"All right all right. If you continue to head down the corridor you're in now, and take your third left, you should reach another elevator that'll take you down a few floors. But you might need a passkey or something for you to access the floor the FTL system's on."  
*"Great, that's going to put a wrench in the works. We'll try and hack it if we have to."

Illandere, Amaya, and Pugnare were hard at work blasting their way through the debris that Garthis had set in their way. That was, until Dema commented he'd found a way to bypass it and ambush them from the side. Alleth ordered a redirecting, and they gave up on the wall and turned the corner, taking their next right, only to find Beta Team had already begun their way to another elevator. Aranomo, who was bringing up the rear, spotted Dema first and fired a canister from her rifle that exploded on contact with Dema and caused him to writhe in pain.

"It was a good idea to bring these things along. I never thought that weed killer would be enough to subdue him." She remarked.

That was until Illandere turned the corner and trained her own arm blasters at the former Royal Guard. Fortunately, some of the other troopers turned and laid down cover fire, long enough for her to switch shells and Lockdown Illandere's systems. Miraju curses flew from the Dark Rounin's lips as the others tried to get by her powered exoskeleton blocking their way as Beta Team hurried down the hall, several troopers backpedaling with their weapons laying down cover fire.

"Aw crap! This elevator's not big enough for all of us to fit in here at once! Aranomo, Marop, Totene, Enoro, you'll go down first and secure the floor. The rest of us will follow." Garthis explained as he and the remaining troops on his level stood their ground and prepared to repel the approaching Dark Rounin. Aranomo, Marop, along with a trooper carrying the SA-02 Arc Caster, and another with the SA-01 EMP Launcher entered the elevator and closed the doors.

Outside . . .

An Aston Martin driven by Suiren with Yuri in tow sped into the parking lot near the now blasted entrance Primus' team had made, and screeched to a stop, as the two girls leaped out.

"Geez Suiren, did you have to drive so fast?" Yuri asked.  
"Yes! Some of those commandos are cute!" she replied.

Yuri groaned at her sister's explanation, then looked up to find the boys and Anubis had arrived.

"Okay, let's get in there and pound some Dark Rounin." Ryo said, as the girls armored up and the group made their way inside.

*"Primus, we're in. We'll do what we can to keep those guys distracted or whatever so that Garthis and his team can get the FTL equipment." Ryo reported.  
*"Roger that. They shouldn't be very far away, just up the hall a little way and then to the left." Primus reported.

Ryo, Anubis, Kento, Sage, Yuri, and Suiren rushed down the main hall of Houji's for the six thousandth time, their steel boots clanking against the metal floors. This was going to be a tough one, and they each secretly hoped two of Amaterasu's finest and two of Amaterasu's offspring were enough to push back the mighty Dark Rounin. If they could lure them outside, they'd be much better off since they'd have more room to fight.

*"Primus, this is Ryo. Mind giving us a rundown of these guys? Just curious as to what we're going up against."  
*"Their commander is a Mage Lord named Alleth. Rumor has it that his special armor gives him innate knowledge of spells from anywhere in the universe, and shortens the time it takes for him to cast them. Dema used to be part of the Royal Guard, and was part of an experiment to give Demetarian abilities to a Miraju. Unfortunately, it worked. Be glad it's night at the moment. Tallis is a Sithas from the planet Salogel, but most people on your world would just call her an elf. She somehow got her hands on an officer's sword, and she can actually use it, not sure how. Pugnare's a real bruiser. He's had some bionics done, in addition he carries a few heavy melee weapons around with him. Intel seems to think he can pull weapons out of thin air to use. Amaya has some kind of biotic powered armor, but we've heard rumors she can sort of cast spells as well. Finally, there's Illandere. She's a second generation Miraju Technopath. Intelligence the Consortium's gathered suggests that to help them understand technology, the Miraju used their bio-wizardry to create a Miraju with very different powers, all related to the understanding of technology. Don't take any of them lightly."  
*"Doesn't look like that from our perspective? Ryo out."  
"Now what? These guys are going to wipe the floor with us, Mecha Armor or not!" Kento concluded.  
"A wise man once said that you only lose when you begin to count the reasons you won't win. Besides, our objective right now is to be a diversion so that Garthis can reach the hyperdrive and figure out how to get it out of here."  
"Here's a dumb question; this thing is supposed to work on the Kusanagi, right? Well, we know how big that thing is. So this thing is probably not all that compact."  
"I'm sure Mom can open a portal or something to get it out, either that or we blast a hole through several floors and see if we can airlift it out." Yuri reasoned.  
"That's going to be a ton of floors. What do we have that can do that?"  
"Rowen's armor, I.J. maybe. We could try directing fire from the Kusanagi and see if that works. Ryo and Anubis could try their sure-kill attacks." Suiren contemplated aloud, ticking the suggestions off on her fingers as she said them.  
"We'll have to worry about that later. Right now we've got the Dark Rounin to worry about, and Garthis can probably think of something." Ryo interjected, attempting to bring everyone's attention back to the task at hand.

"Okay, so how are we supposed to get them to follow us outside?" Kento asked as they approached.  
"Well, Asterra wants my head and Anubis' on a golden platter with a silver lining and encrusted with precious stones, so maybe that'll work."

Suiren activated her active cloaking and tiptoed toward the still firing Dark Rounin, forgetting the fact that she was still somewhat noisy. She tapped one on the shoulder and then hightailed it back down the hall, as Pugnare turned to spot Ryo and Anubis waving their middle fingers back at them.  
"IT'S THEM! CHARGE!" Alleth shouted as the Dark Rounin broke off and now pursued Ryo and the others down the hall and to the right, straight through the door Garthis had blasted open much earlier.

"IT WAS A TRICK!" Pugnare shouted in realization.

"And a really good one, I might add." Suiren explained as she de-cloaked and brought out her sword. Yuri followed suit with her three-section naginata, while Sage and Kento brought out their own weapons as well. Anubis was ready with his beam scythe, and lacking the Swords of Light, Ryo went for his beam sabers and everyone stared each other down.

*"Okay, who wants who?" Ryo asked.  
*"I'll take the big guy." Kento volunteered.  
*"I've got the elf." Yuri added.  
*"I'll handle the bug girl, she might be cute underneath all that." Sage quipped.  
*"Dema is mine." Anubis declared.  
*"Er, I'll take Techno Girl?" Suiren answered.  
*"That leaves me with their leader. No telling what he'll throw at me, and I don't have my swords."  
*"In that case Ryo, call Dark Inferno and have Saber Strike make his way here!" Anubis answered, stating the obvious and simple solution to the problem at hand.

Back on the Isle of Mists . . .

*"This is Hariel. You need the swords? I'll send Saber Strike right away."

The keeper of Ryo's swords was notified, and he took the main portal off the island to find a way to get to their location quickly.

"All right big guy, let's rumble!" Kento declared, twirling his staff dramatically.  
"You speak a peculiar Hoen dialect, but I get the gist of what you are saying. Show me what you have!"  
"Huh? You understand Japanese, er Hoen?" Kento asked.  
"My arms and legs are not the only things that are bionic; I have a language translator as well. Now perish!" Pugnare shouted, throwing shards of metal at Kento, which the Ronin deflected by twirling his staff in front of him.

"Where the hell did those come from? I didn't see any knives on him!"  
"No Kento, they appear to simply be shards of metal, not knives." Anubis explained.  
"That is not all I can do. Try this on for size!" Pugnare declared as he pulled a huge sword out of nowhere.  
"Hey, that looks like Zangetsu . . . wait a sec, how does he even know what it looks like?" Suiren contemplated  
"I saw this design in one of your picture books. I liked it so much I decided to use it!" Pugnare explained. "Well, here's something I'd like to use on you!" Kento shouted, deploying his dragon fang, grabbing Pugnare and lifting him off the ground, but the oaf pried himself free and landed with a thud, forming a small crater when he landed. He then raced along the ground with the huge sword pointed flat for maximum impact.  
"Aw shit, if he does that it goes against Urahara's Law! He should only be able to swing that thing two times and two directions, unless he goes and does that! Ohh, that's it . . . I wished I didn't have to bring this out so early in the fight, but here goes! IRON ROCK CRUSHER!" Kento shouted, bringing his staff above his head and then twirling it, stopping abruptly and then swinging in a downward stroke, sending a flurry of concrete and rocks in a straight line toward the approaching swordsman.

"Hrm, I wonder if that thing would work against Navcase if he does his Kuzu Ryu Sen. Not that I'm going to be sparring with him anytime soon, but still." Kento contemplated to himself, as Pugnare was unfazed, and simply leap running from rock to rock still on a course for the Ronin of Hardrock.  
"Aw shit!" Kento cursed as he brought his own weapon up quickly enough to hold back the tip of Pugnare's weapon. He fired up his verniers to push back, as Pugnare dug in on his own to push forward. Kento took that opportunity to give him a taste of his helmet mounted Vulcan cannons, which irritated the Uranari slightly; until another Iron Rock Crusher hit him from the left; that pissed him off.

"Thanks hon!" Kento called out to his sweetheart.  
"Anytime." Yuri called back, before turning to face her own opponent.  
"Tch. How touching. But you've got your own problems, 'hon.'" Tallis replied. "DANCE!" she shouted, firing a flurry of arrows in rapid succession at Yuri, which seemingly set off an explosion. Tallis smirked. "Gotcha."  
"Not by a long shot, you pointy-eared bitch." Yuri shot back, emerging from a crater.  
"Yuri! How'd you survive that?" Suiren asked.  
"I made myself an improvised foxhole." She replied, pointing to her Knuckle  
Bomber. "Oh, and I don't dance."  
"I know you can." Tallis shot back, adding more arrows to the mix.  
"NOT . . . A. . . . CHANCE!" Yuri shouted, driving her staff into the ground, knocking away the explosive tipped arrows with her fists and feet.  
"What is she, nuts?" Tallis thought to herself.  
"Now try this on for size! IRON ROCK CRUSHER!" Yuri declared, performing the attack as Kento did, but adding a twist; adding a Knuckle Bomber assisted kick to the debris she kicked up, making huge dents in the walls of the building, kicking up a huge amount of dust, so no one could really tell if it succeeded or not. Yuri still posed in a muscle woman pose, and the others swore there were sparkles around her body and eyes, and hoped she wouldn't start some kind of boring lecture.

Playful giggling was heard instead though, as the dust settled.

"Silly human. Don't you know the Sithas have amazing dexterity and agility? It's like trying to kill a space fly with an artillery piece."  
"Believe me, I can arrange that." Yuri shot back.

"I should know, I've lost track of how many shells the Hoen have tried to destroy me with. But then I just do this!" Amaya said to Sage telepathically, before sending a green ball of some sort at him. He managed to duck out of the way, but it clipped one of his armor's wings.

"That was a close one. But not a problem. If this is all she's got, this'll be somewhat easy." Sage thought to himself. Amaya let loose with a different kind of attack, a purple cloud of some sort that Sage narrowly dodged, hitting his forearm guard.

"You've got to do better than that!" Sage thought back.  
"I intend to." Amaya replied telepathically, as some kind of boil started to grow on her arms and legs, and then burst, forming into some kind of boomerang looking things. She gathered up a bunch of them off of one her arms, and then tossed them, heading straight for Sage's arm!  
"What the?" Sage thought to himself.  
"It's simple really, and the cloud I used a second ago on you? Not only does it soften up your armor, it also allows these to home in on you!" Amaya answered. "Don't bother trying to dodge. They'll find you wherever you are!" she shouted, pulling off more and hurling them at Sage, which also locked on and bared down on him.

"Think Sage think! What to do, what to do . . . Got it!" Sage thought to himself, which as most of his comrades hadn't yet realized, was a bad idea.

Blasting off at the last minute as the small homing biotic missiles caused an explosion after hitting the ground instead of Sage, the Ronin raced toward Amaya at top speed, hoping this plan would work. Fortunately, not all of them had exploded. There was enough left to put a decent dent on his insectile opponent. He flew directly in front of her, kissed her flirtatiously, then cut his thrusters off at the last second as the attackers narrowly missed the dive downward toward him, hitting her instead.

"Argh! How dare you use my own biots against me!" she shouted, sending more of her green bolts raining down on Sage, who had some trouble dodging them. She then fired more of the purple spore clouds, which Sage was able to dodge in a small variety of ways, from sidestepping to verniers.

*"Hey Sage, I've got a thought." Suiren came in on his comm.  
*"You can think? Aren't you a blonde?" Sage quipped.  
*"Hey! You're a blonde too!" she shot back.  
*"Yeah, but you're a. . . . " Sage caught himself before he got blasted by another female out on the battlefield. *"Anyhow, what's up?"  
*"Well, her armor's alive, right? Well maybe she needs life force or something to power the er, 'weapons'."  
*"I gotcha." Sage replied, understanding what was going on in Suiren's head.  
"Hey! Betcha can't hit me if I stand completely still! I'm not gonna move at all!"  
"Okay, now WHO's the dumb blonde?" Suiren thought to herself.

Amaya responded by firing energy bolts rapid fire from both her hands, sending a barrage screaming toward Sage along with her homing biots, causing a huge series of explosions. Amaya was huffing and puffing, while Sage stood as still as a statue.

"That all you got?" Sage's voice told her telepathically.  
"NOT BY A LONG SHOT! SUCK THIS DOWN!" she shouted, as her right arm morphed into some kind of a cannon and she opened fire with a solid beam for several minutes, blasting Sage head on.

Of course Suiren was cursing at her boyfriend's asinine plan, and secretly hoping he was alive still to berate him about it. Eventually the beam cut off and Amaya dropped out of the sky like a stone, slamming into the ground. Suiren rushed to Sage's badly damaged armor, hugging him, only to find that it wasn't moving. She tapped the armor lightly, and it fell over with a thud, as if there was nothing solid inside.

"I don't know what you did to him . . . but YOU'LL PAY!" Suiren declared, glowing with energy, ready to take out her rage on Illandere. "CHOU . . . AN . . . DO!" Suiren shouted, as her sword erupted with bright light, as Illandere, Dema, and Alleth shielded their eyes. Suiren had practically created daylight combined with her own energy, her armor's power, and something else.

"That's odd . . . Suiren is registering extremely high levels of Ki, AND spiritual pressure? I didn't know they were capable of that."

In another community, a bleach blonde kid working in a clinic of some sort shuddered at the energy, a well-developed young lady with flower hairpins and a tall built boy with hair over his eyes noticed as well, while elsewhere, a bespectacled young man smirked.

"Hrph. I could beat that without the glove." He said to himself.

In an office on the other side, a small child with a pacifier ducked under his desk as the enormous stacks of paperwork on it began to tumble off of it.

"NO! I just finished sorting everything! I hope Dad doesn't know about this! GEORGE! GET IN HERE!" he shouted.  
In another connected afterlife resembling medieval Japan, people in haori and happi ran around as buildings shook, as others took up positions in a meeting hall. A large, well-built gentleman with an eye-patch and bells in his hair, which by the way, were resonating violently, smiled.

"Hehheh. Looks like the kid got stronger."  
"Nope Nope! That's not Ichy! That's someone else! But . . . I'm not sure where it's coming from." Came a voice from his back, belonging to an adorable bubblegum-haired little girl.

"Captain General! I've traced the source to Toyama, Japan, it's coming from . . . great, it's one of those Kamino girls . . . We really should talk to that mother of theirs and get them some training before they do that again!" a stern woman with glasses reported to a long-bearded old bald gentleman.  
"You're really hot when you report stuff like that, you know, my sweet Nanao." The unkempt, unshaven man with a kasa and a flowery happi next to her replied. Nanao simply rolled her eyes.

Back on Earth, the Palace of the Heavens had appeared behind Suiren and she was temporarily clad in goddess robes, a sign that she was ready to unleash her attack.

"THUNDER . . . BOLT . . . CUT!" She screamed, sending an enormous bolt of light energy screaming toward Illandere, who narrowly got out of its way with her flight armor before the blast slammed into the building, creating a very large hole halfway through the place. But a bright gold glow still illuminated the battlefield.

"I didn't think that would be bright enough, but fortunately, I was wrong. TAKE THIS!" Dema shouted, holding his hands out in front of him and unleashing a golden beam of death back toward the group, only for a glowing white humanoid to intercept the blast and send it back toward the plant man. Its glow subsided and it was revealed to be Sage, clad in his White Neo Halo armor.

"SAGE! You're alive! Now get over here so I can kill you!" Suiren shouted in relief and anger that she had been left out of the loop somehow.  
"I'll explain later, but right now, we've still got the rest of them." He replied as he got out of the way.

Rumbling was heard, as DINN and GINN units, along with Aegis units burst out of the ground and stood before Illandere.

"Ready?" Sage asked Suiren.  
"Not yet. ADD-ON HASSHIN!" she shouted, as the armor pack flew from the Heavens, appeared on Earth, and attached to her hardsuit. "Now I'm ready."

Sage's armor began to glow again, as he once again turned into a being of light, announcing that he was ready as well, and the two took off for Illandere's reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Anubis had rocketed toward Dema, who had created arm blades out of a pair of leaves to attempt to block Anubis' scythe. Anubis fired his head Vulcans, but a shield of floating leaves went up around Dema to protect him, and then were sent flying as a spinning wheel of leaves that nicked his armor as he used his wings to protect himself.

"I can keep this up all night. What else do you have?" Anubis taunted, as Dema responded by chucking various seed pods at him, which entangled him in vines and forced him to his knees.

His leech seeds were the second-best attack he had, save for his coup de grace, the Solar Beam. But no sunlight meant any way to charge up, unless one of the light people decided to pull another attack like the last one. He would simply need to bide his time and use everything he had and pray to Asterra that the sun came up soon.  
Yuri, on the other hand, still had Tallis to deal with. The Sithas had sent arrow after arrow flying toward her, all of which Yuri had managed to dodge. Small and large craters lay around the battlefield from the explosive tipped ordinance she was launching.

"I guess that's three outs you couldn't pull off, elf. You didn't hit your target, you didn't penetrate because you didn't hit, and finally . . . well I guess you won endurance since you're still standing. But you're out of arrows now, so now what? Let's see, I kick your ass, that sounds about right."

Yuri charged up her Knuckle Bomber, and made a beeline for the Sithas. But Yuri wasn't expecting Tallis to unsheathe a katana and hold it out in front of her.

"Suck her up! Fujinmaru!" Tallis shouted as she began swinging the upward pointed blade around like she was stirring an invisible pot, as a tornado began to form from the motion. She then took a fighting stance, and swung the blade horizontally, which caught Yuri, spun her around, and tossed her back the other way.

"What the hell was that?" Yuri wondered aloud. As if in answer, Tallis explained.

"See how you like an awakened Miraju Rune sword! There are very few of these, and if there were more of them, the Miraju themselves would be unstoppable! But no, a race of damn psychics can't do a simple thing like talk with their weapon! As far as I know, there's only three that can, and I'm a friggin MERC on the Miraju's payroll, just like the rest of us! So are you ready to die now? Strike her down, Fujinmaru!"

A bolt of lightning flashed across the pitch black sky, hitting Yuri head on which fortunately passed through her and grounded itself.

"So what else ya got? Hrmm? I'll take everything you've got. Try me."

Meanwhile, the Hoen SpecOps Beta group had secured the bottom level outside the elevator, and had started to make their way deeper into the complex. The lights were out, as they had expected, and night-vision, natural or tech, were the best choice, in case there was some kind of trap spring-able if some dimwit was idiotic enough to turn the lights on. The group moved slowly and deliberately, scanning the area with their weapons at every intersection, but finding nothing. The group wasn't sure if nothing was good or bad, but the Dark Rounin breaking in was about the only bad thing that had happened so far that night.

*"Primus, okay, do we know where this thing is?" Garthis said over his helmet com-link.  
*"Malop's still working on that one. Wait, he's got something. Level 11, room 38. That's where this thing is. We'll send directions to your HUD and objective tracker in a few. In the meantime, see if you can recce anything else while you're on that floor; There might be something the others can use."  
"Copy that. Okay boys and girl, let's recce the place and see if we can find anything useful the others can use. Weapons, plans, let's not overlook anything. We're aliens to this world and to this place, so we might find something previous trips here might not have. Let's go!"

The SpecOps fanned out and began checking each room in the hall for anything, taking up breach formation just in case; Houji was known for his bots and there was a chance or three that some of them were left on. A few minutes later the two groups had finished checking the hall.

"Nothing sir. Whatever was here isn't here now or was cleared out at an earlier date." A soldier replied.  
"If it was the authorities, or the Ronin, records of it being cleared out wouldn't be here. All right, let's move out for that hyperdrive. We know where it is, so let's go find it." Garthis replied.  
"One small problem sir. What if it's too big to get out of here through the front door?" Aranomo asked.  
"We'll worry about that when we get there." Garthis answered.  
"Garthis, we've got the directions. Sending it to your HUD . . . now."

Garthis' HUD flashed with the new information, giving him a three-dimensional picture of the place, as well as a red line to basically follow to the room where the hyperdrive was located.

"I've got point. Follow me, if we continue down this hallway, there should be an elevator around here that should we be able to hack our way in, take us straight to where we need to be. The only problem is that it's taking Malop some time to hack the systems and find out what kind of defenses if any Houji put up to keep people out."

Outside, the leftover mecha Illandere had managed to awaken were temporarily distracting and diverting Ryo's diversion.

"So now what do we do? Aside from us blasting them into oblivion of course." Kento asked.  
"Well, we've got to get them out of the way. Otherwise, our chances of getting to the Dark Rounin aren't going to be too good. Thus, Sure-kills." Ryo replied.  
"Sure-kills?" Yuri asked in surprise.  
"Well, maybe we'll get lucky and hit some of the Dark Rounin in the process." Ryo explained.  
"Wait Ryo. You don't have your swords yet. What are you going to do?" Anubis asked.  
"I still have my cannons. We'll let loose on my mark." Ryo said, bringing the bad boys out and linking them together.

"On three. One . . . two . . . three!"

Ryo let loose with his cannons at the same time Anubis, Kento, Yuri, Sage, and Suiren used their own sure-kill attacks, ripping through the human-re-sized mecha like they were tinfoil, but they were not as lucky on hitting the Dark Rounin as Alleth cast a shield spell to block the attack.

"'I'm surprised Alleth. I didn't think you knew any spells that DIDN'T call rocks down from the heavens." Illandere replied.

"Time for round two gang!" Yuri exclaimed, eager to get back in on this.  
"I'm with you on that." Kento chimed in.

Of course, Kento was fighting Pugnare, who as far as he could tell, was much bigger, and much more bulky than he was. He could almost feel the energy pulsing off of him. Although most of his body was intact, his two upper arms were bionic, evident from the energy blasts he had sent his way earlier.

His flamethrowers only sort of worked, and he also had that big sword of his to contend with. It may have looked like Ichigo Kurosaki's Zangetsu, but there was no telling if he could possibly pull off a Getsuga Tensho. It was going to be a very tough nut to crack, and nothing worked better than beam weaponry at that. He pressed a button, and the metal blade of his naginata/setsukon retracted, and a blade of orange energy surged forward; Ms. Jishou had been slightly experimenting with channeling Ki instead of working it like a traditional Gundam weapon as it had before. Luckily, either way he could pull off his Iron Rock Crusher.

Anubis from his slight perspective, felt he had a good chance against Dema, since having plant powers, he reasoned that he needed to be in the presence of sunlight for him to be at full effectiveness, much like the Ronin armors were more powerful in the presence of their native elements; Ryo and fire, for example. He was unsure of how the same, or how different their armor was now since the old days, before all these technological upgrades and such.

Tallis had brought out her ace in the whole, a Miraju rune blade, which she claimed was different from the other ones. Sure, she was calling it by a name, and unleashing wind powers on Yuri, but the eldest She-Ronin wondered if there was more to it than that. Sura hadn't mentioned to the group anything about the officers being able to do that, and from Navcase's run-in with Kiwham, he claimed to be the only one able to pull that off. So since when did the Miraju read a manga available only on Earth, and have these odd releasing weapons? She wasn't sure if they had names, like a zanpaku-to did, or if they gave them names like some technique she had read about in the palace library. Either way, they had their work cut out for them.

Ryo didn't even know where to start with Alleth. He seemed to be waiting for the others to finish so that the "captains" could settle this thing once and for all.

And then there was Illandere. She'd demonstrated that she could control machines, but that seemed to be it, for now. She seemed to be wearing some kind of exoskeleton, but no one except for Illandere alone knew what it was capable of. Her on-board scanners were either being jammed from somewhere, or the armor she was wearing was too alien for them to get an accurate reading. The blonde bombshell with a no-daichi really didn't want to find out the hard way all the junk Illandere had slapped into it.

But the bottom line of their being there was to stall for time so that the SpecOps could get in and out. The Dark Rounin were an elite mercenary group, and they surely weren't about to have their reputation smashed.

At the very least, they'd managed to knock one out. Now it was a matter of the others.

Meanwhile . . .

Alarms blared, and random Japanese-sounding curses echoed through the hallways in the lower levels as the SpecOps looked for what little cover they could find as auto-turrets that came out of the ceiling tried to kill them.

"Aranomo! Put a Lockdown on that turret! Enoro! Take that EMP and take out that turret over there! When she finishes stunning that first one, give it everything you've got!" Garthis barked, trying to keep things organized within the chaos. He aimed his own backpack launcher at another turret, blasting it to a smithereens in a matter of seconds.

*Garthis! We just saw a bunch of defensive turrets come online here. Everything all right down there?" Primus asked.  
*"Yeah, everyone's in one piece. We must have tripped something when we got off the elevator, but we're making our way toward the room now."

Sparks flickered where turrets once hung, as the SpecOps continued their way down the hall to room 38.

*"Primus, have Marop check to see if there's anything in these other rooms we should be worried about."  
*"Checking . . . according to this, they just have storage racks for miscellaneous androids. But they SHOULD be offline."  
*"That's what we thought about the cannons, but something tripped them. I'm wondering if we're going to have to deal with some uninvited guests in a few minutes or so."  
*How's your ammo?" Primus asked.  
"We haven't gone into our reserve clips yet, and we still have my emergency cache. Having supernatural strength has more benefits than making cars into aircraft temporarily."  
*All right then. If anything DOES happen, as soon as you hit the emergency cache, let me know and we'll come running."  
*"Copy that, but all due respect, didn't you seal yourself in that terminal room?"  
*"Nothing a few explosives or a good kick from a Sensharan can't fix." Primus replied.  
"Right, you've got Achinai there with you. Hopefully we'll have a brand-new hyperdrive for you in a few minutes. Garthis out."

"Dammit, we can't read Japanese! We're going to need Rowen again." Marop shouted.  
*Rowen, this is Garthis. We've reached the right floor, but we don't know what room it is. Tell Rangu to lend you her helmet and patch into my HUD."

Rowen fit the object on his head. It was a bit cramped, although it was meant for a female's head, not his. On top of that, it was stuffier than any of his own helmets, although those were enchanted by magic; this wasn't. He patched through as Rangu instructed and discovered the SpecOps were at door number 1.

*"What's on the opposite side?" Rowen asked.

Garthis turned his head to the opposite side of the hall, and Rowen quickly deciphered that the door read two. He wondered what the Hoen's written language looked like since apparently although it sounded like Japanese, it wasn't written that way.

""We're looking for door number 38. Where do you think it is?"  
*"I'd think that it was down the hall on your right, nineteen doors down."  
"Copy that. You, count by two down that hallway along your right and stop at door 38, then patch your HUD to Rowen and hope his theory's correct."

One of the soldiers headed down the hall, slowly but carefully, not wanting a repeat of their stepping off the elevator. He counted to himself as he passed each door along that side, two, four, six, eight . . . stopping at the nineteenth door on the right-hand side.

*"Rowen! Did we get it right?" he asked.  
*Yep, door 38. Now bust that thing open and see if the hyper-drive's inside."

Three of them formed up on the door, one of them ready to kick the door in, another two stood by to swarm into the room and see what was inside. Throwing a charge in there wasn't a smart move because if there was anything in there that they needed intact; such as the hyperdrive, for example; they would be in trouble and their whole mission would be for naught. On the count of three, the first one blasted the lock and kicked the door open, while the other two filed in and scanned the room quickly.

"It's clear!" one shouted."  
"Is the hyperdrive in there?" Garthis asked.  
"No, doesn't look like it. There's a terminal in here though. Looks like a safe's in here too."

Marop made her way into the room, along with the rest of the SpecOps. One stayed at the door to stand guard in case there were more surprises waiting for them.

"How long will it take you to crack that open?" Garthis asked.  
"A few minutes, tops. Doesn't look too complicated to break open." Marop replied, reaching into her utility belt and pulling out a tool of some kind. She then attached it to the lock, and pressed a button, but nothing happened.

"Okay, now what do we do? " One of the soldiers asked.  
"Well, we all get out of the room, I set a charge, and we blast the door off its hinges."

There was a clanking of boots as the gathered SpecOps quickly filed out of the room, leaving only Marop who pulled a charge out of her backpack, fastened it to the safe, then filing out of the room herself and headed around the corner, the detonator in hand.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" she shouted, clicking down on the button, as a large explosion came out of the room and into the hall.  
"I think you used too much." Aranomo commented.  
"I didn't know how much it would take, so I made sure that I put plenty on it."  
"Let's just hope there's something still intact in there."

The SpecOps turned the corner and entered the well-blasted room. The terminal was pretty much blasted to a smithereens, any furniture in the room was well scattered or splintered, but what was most important, the safe was opened, and there were disks waiting inside it.

"Good work. Now let's . . . "

Garthis couldn't finish his sentence before alarms started blaring.

"Oh sure, NOW the alarm goes off." A soldier commented.  
"Let's move let's move! Marop, you have the disks?" Garthis asked.  
"All of 'em."  
"Hopefully the plans for that hyperdrive that was supposed to be in here is on one of them. I don't like the sound of that alarm. I haven't got a clue what we did to set it off, but we better scram before . . . " Garthis again was cut off as clanking androids marched out of the other rooms from either side of them and had them trapped.  
"...that happens." He replied.

Outside, things weren't much prettier. Pugnare kept up his swings with his sword, forcing Kento to block more than he could drive in his own blows with his energy blade. He had to stop this guy somehow; the SpecOps still hadn't come out yet. He thrust forward, only for Pugnare to grab the blade with his lower arms and force his own downward, allowing Pugnare a free hit with his sword. As Kento tried to regain control of his weapon, a hail of metal shards came flying at him, which he had to dive to the ground to avoid. As he got to his feet, there were energy blasts from Pugnare's bionic arms, forcing him to flip over like a pancake to dodge that one.

"SUIREN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE, YOUR NAILS?" Kento shouted.  
"No, can't do that in armor, and I'm making sure she doesn't wake up." She replied.  
"Well, as long as she's out cold, could you AT LEAST give me a hand? This guy's juiced like you wouldn't believe!"  
"I think I can manage that. Gimme a sec to charge up, and we'll see how he likes a little charge cannon action."

Suiren pointed her left arm toward Pugnare, as the gauntlet slid forward over her fingers with a click. Her armor began to glow light blue, then yellow, and finally pink, as a stream of pink fireballs in a chain flew from the weapon and slammed into Pugnare's right mechanical arm, blasting a nice gaping hole in it. Circuitry peeked through the hole she had blasted, as some sparks flew from it.

"Want some more? I've got plenty more where that came from. Why don't you try this on for size?" She asked, as she made a quick change in her HUD that indicated a switch from her standard charge cannon to its other mode. A purple bolt of lightning shot out, hitting Pugnare head on, as Kento went through his kata motions and let loose with an Iron Rock Crusher, as Pugnare used his other cannon to try and stop the barrage of rocks, only managing to take down a few, while the rest slammed into him, damaging his other bionic arm as he tried to shield himself, but the attack was too much for him this time with the double team and he went down as well.

The Dark Rounin that were still standing dragged their fallen and damaged comrades around  
Alleth, who began chanting something as they vanished from sight in a bubble of magical energy.

"Okay, well I guess that's over. Now what do we do?" Ryo asked.  
"We only managed to incapacitate two of them, and they run. Whatever happened to fighting to the last man standing?" Anubis contemplated.  
"Well, they'll be licking their wounds for a little while at least. Hopefully that's enough for Primus and his team to get what they need done before the Miraju try anything else." Suiren reasoned.  
"Right now, all I want to do is sleep after that. We'll worry about all this in the morning . . . er, afternoon, ah! Whatever!" Kento shouted enthusiastically as the group headed back to Suiren's car. Rowen and Rangu would get the SpecOps out, hopefully all in one piece.  
*"Rowen, this is Ryo. Dark Rounin as far as I can tell banged out of here, so you've got clear skies for the pickup."

Down in the bowels of the building, SpecOps Team two was in deep trouble. Cover was a severe issue, and their only way out was straight through the wall of walking metal standing in front of them, rifles raised. The bulky, one-eyed monstrosities with crests on their heads, which their HUD identified as a GINN AI, one of the many designs and such that Houji drew inspiration from an anime for. So if they were going to get through this, they were going to have hit them hard and early.

The trooper with the EMP cannon stepped forward and took aim and fired, taking down six androids before popping in another clip and downing a few more. The EMP cannon was typical of Sensharan weapons, lots of firepower but low rates of fire. A Sensharan might have been able to withstand the recoil from the weapon, but the SpecOps special nano-armor could only lessen it enough that a non-Sensharan could fire it. This was why the SA-01 was usually in use by actual Sensharan serving the Consortium, or by soldiers wearing the Heavy armor or powered armor sometimes used by heavy weapons soldiers in the army. Another drawback was the low amount of rounds it could hold at a time; although both Garthis and Marop had reserves for everyone, Garthis could hold more due to his species' natural abilities. Between the two of them and the trooper's own reserves, they couldn't keep this up for very long. They had to break free and hack the elevator if they had to and get out of there with the prize.

"Totene, hand me your Arc Caster!" Garthis shouted to one of the troopers. The trooper did so and Garthis looked it over as the trooper shouldered his Tri-Rifle. "I'm going to zap these guys with the Arc, then take formation on Marop and proceed, forward guns blazing until you reach that elevator. I'll be right behind you. Let's bang out of this place!" Garthis shouted as Marop braced her energy shotgun and he opened fire with his Arc, sending electrical bolts coursing through the androids' bodies as anti-armor shells and energy bolts riddled the machines, with Marop giving them a good blast from her energy shotgun once she got close enough.

"This isn't working well enough! There's still too many!" Marop shouted as she gave another android a good shot in the gut.

Garthis slung the Arc over his shoulder and went for his pistols, charging forward, shot after shot dropping the enemy droids as others were simply strong-armed out of the way with supernatural strength, leaving androids imprinted in the wall in some cases. Garthis made it through, as his team followed close behind, having seen this steamroller tactic many times before; the XO could be a tad impatient at times. Marop pushed the button, but to no avail; time to start hacking to get the doors closed and the elevator to go up.

*Primus, we've got the package and are ready to come back up now, but the elevator's stuck. Anything you can do on your end?" Garthis asked.  
*Negative, whatever you did down there, has locked us out. Malop's trying to get back in, but it's going slowly. You're going to have to try and get it from there."  
*"Copy that. Marop, see if you can hack that thing." He replied.  
"On it."

With that, she broke out her tools and began to remove the housing from the elevator controls. Hoen technology was light years ahead of anything on Earth, but her training still equipped her to deal with so-called "older" systems. Everything was a tiered tree of tech to her and others with her pipeline; they were taught that you had to have A before you could have B, and she was very good at what she did.

"Marop, no pressure but we need this door closed yesterday!" Garthis shouted.  
*"Respectfully sir, this system is ancient compared to what we've got back home. It's gonna take a while."  
"Define a while?"  
"Don't know, but I already know your answer, we don't have whatever it is I'm going to say."  
"Glad we understand each other. Okay boys and girls, let's let 'em have it! Call out when you're empty and I'll throw you a spare. SHIJUNI!".

Shijuni may have been a Hoen battle cry, but with the advent of the Consortium, it was everyone's. Three syllables could convey what "Okay, we may run out of ammo before she hacks the elevator, but we're going down like warriors, until every round is spent, and we'll keep going to the last man or woman standing!" would take longer to explain. The cry was echoed by the others as their weapons powered to life again and began trashing 'droids left and right. Certasu, carrying the SA-60 Plasma Pulse Chain-gun, let loose with heavy bursts of destruction, but even that was doing little to slow the advance.

Marop sealed her suit completely, cutting off external com-links as well as background noise as she focused on the task at hand. Her training told her that she'd have to find the right wires and cross them to get the doors closed, and then from there it was a matter of getting it to take them to the right floor. If it didn't work, they'd have to find yet another way out. She ripped the panel open, and began scanning the wires for the right ones. After a few minutes of careful searching, she thought she'd found them, but a quick cross later and . . . nothing. She tried again. Again, nothing. She reopened her link to the outside world.

"It's not working. We're going to have to find another way out. There has to be a staircase around here somewhere. He couldn't have built this place without taking emergencies into consideration. But on the other hand, you'd have this stuff here, but you couldn't get it off this floor. Only one other option remaining." She replied, taking her shotgun and aiming it at the ceiling of the elevator, blasting a door open.

"Good thinking Marop! Okay, let's get out of here!" Garthis shouted as operator after operator fired up their packs and shot up through the opening and up the elevator shaft. Everyone else as they had been doing kept firing until their clips were spent and slapped in a new one. Garthis was the last to make his way out, returning fire up until the last possible minute and then flying through the hole and up with the others. Marop had already set a charge and was getting ready to blast the correct door wide open.

"Fire in the Hole!" she shouted, as the elevator doors were knocked wide open in a direction they were never meant to go.

*We just heard a loud bang. That you guys?" Primus asked over the com-link.  
*"That's affirmative." Garthis replied.  
*"Sitrep?" Primus asked.  
*"Mission accomplished. There wasn't an actual built hyperdrive, but there were disks which hopefully have the plans on them. They're probably encrypted and it'll take some serious hacking to get any data off them."  
*"Okay, we're going to blast our way out of the control room and meet you all outside." **"Rangu? This is 3-1 requesting immediate dust-off and exfil. Do you copy?"  
**"Rangu reporting. Request acknowledged, I'm on my way now. See you at the LZ."

Minutes and a headcount later, everyone was accounted for, luckily. The team was tired, more precious ammo had been spent, and there was still no timetable as to when they'd be headed back to the secret base or even Suanapolla itself. But at least they were one step closer to their eventual goal of stopping Asterra. It would take all the help they could gather; Consortium, Ronin, and maybe even more than that to accomplish that.

The roar of engines pierced the morning quiet as the sun began to rise over Toyama, Rangu making her final approach to bring the weary SpecOps back to, at the very least, Osaki's so that the plans on the disk could be decrypted and they could rejoin the missing fleet, at last.

Meanwhile, aboard Asterra's flagship, things were not as joyful.

"Prepare a full division of my soldiers for Earth. I have relied on the Dark Rounin long enough. It is time to completely take matters into my own hands." Asterra replied, notifying one of his aides.

This extended stay in the area had not boded well for Asterra. He needed sustenance, and the only way to get that was through consuming the life force of other living beings. Earth was ripe for the picking, and now it wasn't just fantastic power armored samurai standing in his way; they had Hoen help, and that meant knowledge of tactics, unit identifications, the works. They had to be stopped before a larger force figured out where they were and came to help. But it was soon to be over . . .

To be Continued . . .

NEXT EPISODE:

RYO: Well, they did it. With a little help from those Hoen scientists, we'll be breaking the light barrier in very little time and be off to wherever that base is.

ROWEN: Ryo, you' ve got to remember that encryption takes time to be undone, and then once they can read the plans, they've got to build it, and put in the ship, amongst other things.

RYO: So what happens next?

ROWEN: We wait. Very patiently for the work to get done and keep it safe until then.

RYO: Well, if only we had an idea of what Asterra was up to . . .

::Transmission is hacked by Illandere::

ILLANDERE: Next episode, Trouble by the Division. Watch for it.

TALLIS: Don't you mean, "wait for it?" You know how slow Destonus is nowadays.

ILLANDERE: He better write, or I break his laptop.

TALLIS: Then he can't write.

ILLANDERE: Dammit! Just read the next chapter, okay?


End file.
